i think the system itself needs to be changed. i think that is what republicans are talking about. host: i want to get your thoughts on that ad from the mitt romney campaign that says president obama sold chrysler to italians that are going to build jeeps in china. a lot of push back from the obama campaign. the ad was dismissed by our last guest. i want to get your thoughts. guest: chrysler has admitted they are going to open a plant in china. they are going to manufacture jeeps in italy they are going to ship to china. why are we not manufacturing them in ohio? i think that is the issue that

mitt romney, governor romney, was attempting to promote. the fact of the matter is that we have a substantial loss of automobile manufacturing jobs in ohio between 2008 when the 2011. we have not recovered some of those jobs. some of those jobs, we have recovered. to say that chrysler is not going to be producing jeeps in china is incorrect, because they have admitted that they are going to open a plant in china. they are in the process of doing the right now. >> you think governor romney could have done a better job in how he presented that ad? it has gotten a lot of a pushcart. vice-president biden called it "flagrantly dishonest." he said,

>guest: i am not going to get into individual ads on television. in ohio, you have been bombarded with ads from both sides of the aisles. it is something the average voter will talk to you about on the street, the negativity of many of the eds, and the accuracy of many of the eds. i am not going to comment on it. i think the washington post made some comment on this ad, and said it was not "pants on fire." there was accuracy in the advertisement. i think i am going to leave it at that. host: on the republican line, theresa is waiting. caller: good morning, and thank you. i am pleased to have the opportunity to speak some of the

things i would like to say. i hope that with the ground game with the republicans and in ohio that the people who are telling the people there to do their own research before they pull the lever. let them talk to people who go to doctors and things of that nature. they do not go just once in a while. they go quite frequently. when a doctor says to you, instead of "have a nice day," "stay healthy, , because i might not be able to take care of you," that is important to a senior citizen. on education, people need to really dig and find out what the educational programs are all about. it is more money and more money. it is all for the unions. if there were things going on in the school that the parents

could see, instead of being pushed aside because the government wants to take over the children, and not let the parents have anything to say -- there are other subjects as well as the middle-class. host: will give you a chance to respond to some of her comments. guest: i think she is right. all the voters should have an opportunity to look behind the ads and build into the research on the individual candidates. they should come out knowing this country needs a change in direction, and who will create the number of jobs that are necessary. i think governor mitt romney has that program, if you look at it in depth. his commitment to produce 12 million jobs over the next four years, the way this country has to do. also, to take regulation out of the small business community, so

that our small businessmen, who are the real job creators, know what is going to happen over the next four years. if you look at what has happened in ohio, with governor kasich, who inherited a rainy day fund that had 23 cents in it -- the state was $8 billion in debt. he was able to balance the budget, put $400 million in the rainy day fund, he reduced taxes, and eliminate the death tax in ohio. the has been the biggest job trend in ohio and anywhere else in the nation. i think the governors are leading the change effort in this country, and have to continue to do that. but the federal government has been an impediment, in many cases, through its regulations and its headwinds.

many in the state have predicted them from creating the jobs necessary in this country to push our economy and improve the economy over the next four years. host: breaking news this morning. we have been talking about the jobs numbers coming out today. 7.9%, slightly up from 7.8%, the unemployment rate, from september. showing 171,000 jobs added in october, this according to the u.s. bureau of labor statistics this morning. i want to get your quick reaction to those numbers. guest: first of all, that is virtually no change. yes, it is an uptick, and it was down the month before. but unemployment is staying basically around 8%.

if you count the people of -- who have given up looking for jobs in this country, we have over 20 million people who are unemployed right now. we have to address their needs and concerns, and make sure they have jobs over the next four years. by producing 12 million jobs, a lot of these people will be put back to work. if we continue the policies of the last four years, i am afraid we will see the next norm for unemployment in this country will be 8%, and the unemployment figures are going to stay around that 20 million figure. i think we can do a lot better. i think governor romney certainly has a program to do that, he and certainly in ohio we have proven that it can be done. host: let us go to judith, on the democratic line. you are on. caller: my name is judith, and i

am living in madison, ohio, which is near canton, maybe 5 miles from there. i have two sons that graduated from private colleges. they cannot find jobs in their feel, have not been able to. they graduated, college in 2002. my other son graduated in 2001, from akron university. they are unable to find jobs. i heard they want to raise the retirement age again to, i don't know, 72 or something. i am retired. i am a retired nurse.

i personally do not understand why they keep raising the retirement age from elderly people who who really need to enjoy their retirement. guest: number one, we know that 50% of our graduates of our colleges right now are unable to find jobs in the field they chose to study. that borders on almost a criminal act, after they made an investment. in many cases, they have had to borrow substantial funds of money to complete their education. they expect to find a job when they get out of college. we know the unemployment rate among recent college graduates is now 50%. i have a great deal of sympathy for judith, and the fact that her sons are unable to find employment in their chosen

field. i think the second thing she brings up -- that we raise the retirement age. people do not have sufficient funds on which to retire, and feel they have to continue to work. madison, as our research and development in the medical field, continues to improve, and they extend the life expectancy, and our current system of social security, and so forth, is not going to provide sufficient funds to take care of people for their white span. -- lifespan. individuals, based on the medical care they are receiving, choose to continue to work beyond the traditional retirement age of 65. i am very sympathetic to the fact that her sons have not been able to find jobs, but i think that what we need to do is to --

host: we will come back in a little bit. we lost the signal to him, but we will bring him right back. from the jobs that came -- the jobs report -- the unemployment rate, 7.9%, and the number of people unemployed, were essentially unchanged from september. among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for blacks increased to 14.3%. we will go back to mr. bennett of the ohio republican party. we have been talking a little bit about the auto industry in ohio. the question on twitter.

guest: there are two types of bankruptcy. if you let them go bankruptcy, and they liquidate, that would be devastating. that is not what governor romney ever participated in advocating at all. what governor romney was advocating was that we should have had a structured bankruptcy. we should have high guarantees by the federal government. that would have even the playing field for everybody, including many retirees who had their pensions wiped out because the government picked and chose winners and losers in the restructuring of general motors and the other automobile -- look at ford. they never had to take any

bailout money. the continued to have great profits, and they continued to restructure. if we have followed governor rahm these recommendations, we would have had a restructuring within the bankruptcy law, so the automobile industry would have looked exactly the way it does today. i think it would even have been in better shape and created more jobs. that is an opinion, and nobody is going to be able to dispute or advocate, because we will never know. the effect of the matter is, he government has over a $50 billion investment in general motors in stock today. for the government to ever recover that money, i think the stock price is good to have to go up between $55.60 dollars. that is probably not going to happen in my lifetime or your lifetime.

host: we go to the republican line, for the republican party chairman in ohio. caller: i have some facts and figures for the american people. people seem to forget what has happened in our past. obama claims the democrats took control when you were a 22 of 2009. actually, the democrats took control january 3 of 2007. they took control of the congress and the senate. that was the first time since 1995. under bush, unemployment was 4.6% and gdp was 3.5%, and 50 straight months of job growth. i am tired of obama claiming that he has inherited such a bad economy from the bush era, blaming everything on the republicans. barney frank was head of the house financial committee, and chris dodd was the head of the

senate banking committee. they have a little friend in a with fannie mae and freddie mac, and that was obama. bush went to congress and ask them 27 times to stop them from making these loans, here because they were too financially risky for america. guest: i think he is right on one thing. the fannie mae and freddie mac meltdown was certainly caused by the house in bubble. that has done a great disservice -- was done a great disservice by congress in encouraging lending to those individuals who did not have sufficient downpayment or did not have the wherewithal to guarantee they would be able to pay back their mortgage loans. that certainly created a house in bubble. -- housing bubble.

that did start at the end of the bush administration. we are now four years past the start of the obama administration, and i think we have had sufficient time to address the concerns. the fact is, the economy has not improved. we have averaged over 8% unemployment for the entire term of president obama's tenure in office. we have to continue to look for change, could change that will create those jobs and get this economy moving again. we will address the tremendous debt this country has, $16 trillion in debt, increased over $5 trillion under president obama. if we have another four years of president obama, our national debt will exceed $20 trillion.

this is horrible to give to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. we cannot continue on with these policies. host: one more call for you from gwen, michigan, on the independent line. victoria, you're on with mr. bennett of the ohio republican party. caller: good morning. i wanted to make clarification for a caller from earlier about the interpretation that republicans are against unions. it is not being clear enough to our voters that there is a giant difference between a private-sector union and a government tax-funded union. in the private sector, the union leaders and the workers negotiate with these business owners -- very appropriate. in the tax-funded, government- run unions, the union leaders have the dues from the workers, support elected officials that they are interested in getting

into office. the union leaders negotiate with those elected officials. the contracts are then paid for with funded tax dollars. that is why jfk was completely against the government tax- funded unions. there is a huge difference. i don't feel that people are understanding this. host: mr. bennett, i will give you the last word here of this last segment of the "washington journal." guest: gwen's is correct. not only was jfk opposed to public employees unions but also franklin d. roosevelt was against public employees unions. we are negotiating with ourselves. when it comes to unions, we have been successful in ohio in

getting the republican message across to union members. we receive about 40% of the union vote in ohio. i am very proud of that because it is a message that the private-sector unions understand that if the economy is growing and jobs are increasing, their lives are better off. that is why i think that in many cases we will get a substantial union vote this election because they want the economy to grow again. she is right on the public employees union. they exceed what is available in the private sector. that is what is driving many of the voters right now to make changes in the public employment collective bargaining.

host: bob bennett, ohio republican party chairman, thanks so much for joining us. host: we are joined now via skype from the campaign trail from niles, ohio by democratic congressman tim ryan, a member of the house budget committee. thanks for coming on. i want to get your reaction to the october unemployment numbers that came out -- 7.9% unemployment rate. 171,000 jobs added in october. your take on what those numbers mean in the near future and long term. guest: they are solid numbers. when think about where we are coming from in ohio to have those numbers moving in the right direction it think is positive. now it's about -- with the election season here -- who will be able to get this economy moving faster. there is a jobs bill in congress. speaker boehner will not bring it up for a vote. it will create up to another 1

million or 2 million jobs. getting people back to work with road and bridges and infrastructure -- teacher, police, and fire -- to take us to the next level. these are solid numbers, but we have more to do. we have to make sure we have a president that will get the job done for us. host: four days out from the election. you say solid numbers. how do you think they will play out? what other key indicators are you watching heading into tuesday? guest: we are seeing a lot of improvements in ohio. the auto industry is doing well. one of every eight jobs in ohio is directly or indirectly related to the auto industry. we some key investments here just right through the supply chain for the auto industry. that has had a huge benefit. that is in the short term. the president put tariffs on chinese steel. that led to almost a $1 billion investment in a new steel mill in youngstown, ohio. youngstown is an iconic city.

to think there is almost a $1 billion steel mill because of the president's policies is a very good sign. there are good feelings in ohio the way things are going. we have got a long way to go. who will move us forward? who will make the investment in the new energy economy? who will make the investments into the research and development? we have a lot of universities in ohio. we can be a huge part of restructuring the new economy. we have to make sure we do not have a bunch of ideologues in the political realm. we have to have people who recognize that investments in basic research can lead to economic development in ohio. i'm optimistic. politically, we have a great ground game in ohio. i have 14 or 15 obama offices in my congressional district. there are people knocking on doors right now, making phones. we have a huge weekend ahead of us for getting out the vote.

a mobilized and energized base. we have had bill clinton here, joe biden, the president, etc. politically, we are going to get the job done in the next few days. host: we are talking with democratic congressman tim ryan of ohio, member of the budget committee. if you want to ask him about the race in ohio or budget committee questions, give us a call. democratic line -- 202-585-3880 the republican line -- 202-585- 3881 ohio residents, we still have that line open to you -- 202- 585-3883. congressman ryan, a couple comments on twitter about the jobs numbers. liz smith writes in -- frankly, that few of jobs shouldn't be getting anyone satisfied or excited. another comment from james ard -- the jobs numbers are irrelevant.

obama has no hope of americans giving him another chance. your thoughts on those comments. guest: nobody is satisfied. no one will say -- let's just quit doing what we are doing. who is able to take us from where we were, which was a hole that was dug with some ideological policies that have been proven not to work, blow a hole in budget deficit, the economy collapses? i would like to ask -- if these policies that they want to implement are so great why didn't they work in the last 10 years? we have a lot more information in our society today. that was not that long ago when we experienced almost a complete economic collapse. the president has been able to help dig us out of the whole and get us moving in the right direction. there is a jobs bill that any economist who is being objective about it said we ill create over a million new jobs.

get some money into the road and bridge projects that we need done in this country. make sure local governments are not laying off police, fire, and teachers. let's move the economy forward and create jobs. make investments into the new energy sector, research and development so we can create the jobs of the future. so places like ohio can keep going with what it is that we have been doing and build on the auto industry and build on the steel industry and get into the new economies. we are hitting a roadblock because -- the american people have recognized this -- there is an ideological grip in the united states congress right now. they do not believe that these investments are necessary and/or helpful. it is easy to blame obama. think about where we were in ohio a few short years ago and

where we are today. it has been amazing. are we satisfied? no. can we build on what we have? yes. who has been the man to get the job done? it has been president obama. host: jody on twitter agrees with you. she writes -- when the republicans were in charge, we were losing jobs. now, with democrats we're adding jobs. my eyes are open, and i'm voting. we have that ohio line open. we want to go to marie from brooksville, ohio on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i hope that i can make a point that people will listen to. my husband works at a factory in montgomery county, ohio for a large international company that is shipping jobs to china. they are shutting down lines here, moving work to china. they use temporary workers.

they refuse to hire people. my husband has been with this company for over 40 years. they do not seem to care that people need jobs in ohio. his hands are tied. everyone's hands are tied. they are being told by the corporate headquarters that they have to do this. i do not understand why people think someone like mitt romney are going to come in and do anything any different than what is being done at my husband's company. host: i will give you a chance to talk to marie. unfortunately her story is a story we have heard in northeast ohio for a long time. and that is that we lost a lot of jobs to china. my cousin donny, one of his businesses he worked for -- there is a machine on a factory floor, and his job was shipped to china. that is what people in ohio are dealing with. that is why the president i think will win ohio.

they see that mitt romney has made a living, a good living off of outsourcing and offshoring the jobs for companies in places like ohio. they are very concerned that he is not the person that we want in power in washington, d.c. to make that even easier. unfortunately, that story is not unique to our state. who is going to be the president of united states that is likely to start creating the jobs of the future so that young people and middle aged people who lost their jobs have an opportunity to get a good paying

jobs back. and i say this because president obama already has a record. look at the auto industry. but the supply chain, people working in places like commercial logistics. these are good middle-class jobs that the president stuck his neck out and saved. look at the steel mill being built in youngstown, ohio. there's more than one building trade person that has said to me and to others that they will be able to put their kids through college because of the money that they made building this particular project. these are the products of president obama. are we home yet? we are not. we have a long way to go. but he has a good track record. he is on their team and he is implementing policies that will help people like their and families like mine in my district. the next question is, how we

take this to the next question? obama has a plan to do that with technology, research and development. host: we are speaking tim ryan, from the youngstown area of ohio. mike from houston, texas on our line for republicans. caller: good morning. i grew up in ohio. i have family there for 50 years. my concern here, congressman, class of 1983. my concern here congressman is that, i look at the democrats and i see a party that desires to command and control the economy. i see where, in houston, i've been here 20 years now new york houston we had an oil bust in 1985. the government didn't bail out houston but houston is home to 150,000 californians from the

past 10 years alone. texas was not bailed out but now houston is host city to the world's largest medical center. it is growing faster than any large city in the united states. and no federal money. it is not a command and control economy. it has more free market and no state income tax and look at california as a case study they've lost 350,000 people to texas alone in the last 10 years. texas is growing, california is a disaster. a case study in disaster. >> congressman ryan, a hance to jump in. >> i think it's difficult to make a comparison between the oil bust, which is a commodity based product which can get

caught up in different complications, versus the auto industry. i think it's a difficult comparison. but the auto restructuring package has worked and it's benefiting hubbard, ohio, and other areas where many people who work at general motors benefit from that. so it as the position on chinese steel that the president has taken that has benefited youngstown and gerard and many other people who work in that area. i take issue with him saying there's a lack of federal resources in texas. nasa has made huge investments in texas. many businesses in texas benefit from investments in the united states military. throughout the entire state of texas, i think if you look at many of the universitys in texas, they get a bode load of money from the reserge and

development money that comes from n.i.h., the national science foundation, so i would take issue with the fact that, you know, the republic of texas is making it all on their own. they're getting substantial benefits from federal research and development dollars. which is fine. i don't have any problem with that at all. but to benefit from the oil industry in such a profound way is a unique situation. we don't have that situation every y -- everywhere. but texas does benefit from nasa, from the national science foundation and the national institutes of health. that's helped spur their economy as well. >> congressman, gary on twitter wants me to ask you, why didn't obama stick his neck out for the nonunion workers who lost their peppings in the auto bailout. can you talk that out? >> that's an urban legend. we are working, nart brown and i are working very hard to help

the seven or eight splinter unions that didn't end up doing as well as the u.a.w., the iue crferings wa which had contracts essential to the development of the new general motors. but this is not a union-nonunion issue. there were seven or eight different unions that didn't make out as well as other unions had. so there are many salaries folks who said this was the president picking the unions over the salary people. that's not true. there are other unions that didn't make out -- it's a bankruptcy. it was a very, very tough, difficult decision. but i will say to my friends who bring up this issue, first of all, it's not true. and second of all, sherrod brown and i have a bill that will help the delphi salaried and will help the other splinter unions and we cannot get the ear of the republicans

in the house of representatives. so i would like to see speaker boehner bring this up in the leam duck session to be able to help the delphi salary folks and those other union members. so it is pure fallacy to say that the president picks certain unions over salaried folks. there were people who were hurt on both sides, both union and management, and it was a bankruptcy. it was a tough deal all the way around. >> you bring up brown. he's running for senate out there in ohio for re-election. he's running against josh mandel, the republican state treasurer. reel clear politics ranks that race as a tossup. how do you see that race playing out in the next four days? >> sherrod brown is going to win, he's a great senator, he's working on behalf of the people. the things i mentioned about president obama, the auto restrubturing package, the

tariffs on chinese products -- products coming in, sherrod brown was leading the way in the united states senate. brown's opponent said he was against the auto restructuring package, an unbelievable position to take in the constituent of ohio. i think he'll win with a solid lead. he's got a great ground game and he's one of the greatest senators out thresm issue is his opponent said that brown's vote for the auto rescue restructuring package was un-american. there are a lot of people in ohio that think it was very much an american, pro-american vote and they're going to reward brown for that >> let's go back to our ohio line. jim is an independent. you're on with congressman tim ryan. >> good morning, congressman ryan. i was raised in akron, left goodyear to teach in 1976. now i live in stark county and i drive a jeep and i'm a

supporter of senator brown and our president. and i met you at an sb-5 rally back last year. i was very sorry, of course john boccieri, who i think you know pretty well, is no longer serving us but i hope he'll be back. in line with that, the redistricting issue too in ohio. i wish yud speak a little bit to the pathology of how these districts are being gerrymandered and -- specifically in -- an issue two in ohio. >> we're supporting issue two, i'm supporting issue two which creates a citizen panel to redraw the congressional districts and the legislative districts. >> is that on the ballot as well? >> it's on the ballot as well. it takes the pen out of the hands of politicians, both democrats and republicans, so we can start getting districts

that are inclusive of entire communities and other things, to make sure we don't have a district, for example, one that starts in mahoney county in northeastern ohio and goes all the way down to south central ohio and includes, you know, is basically drawn as a republican district. republicans control the pen in this particular instance and redrew districts that benefited republicans. to think that there are a million more democrats in ohio than there are republicans, but yet the republicans have a significant advantage in their congressional representation. i think most people see that as unfair. let's get the politicians out of this. let's let a citizen panel draw up these new districts. i think you're going to get more and better representation. so every that comes to d.c. isn't really, really a democrat or really, really a republican. they have moderate people they

have to go back to their district and speak with. that way they'll be more inclined to get things done for the american people instd of for their own political party. >> christian from choctaw, oklahoma, is next with congressman tim ryan. caller: i have a couple of things to say, please don't cut me off. a lot of people say president obama has been so divisive. president obama cannot change the color of his skin. before president obama passed any law, mitch mcconnel said he was going to make sure he was a one-term president. republicans are talking about benghazi. bush sent our boys to war without the proper body armor. ok. we had to send our boy, ok, the proper body armor because rumsfeld said, oh, you go to war with the armor you have. you want to talk about

benghazi, talk about the war that our boys died. in. the last thing, it's a shame about abortion too. whenever you republicans call me, ok, saying i'm a baby killer, you guys are hypocrites. the republic party never did anything about it. when it comes to your religious doctrine, billy graham has said that mormonism is a cult. all these evangelicals that now all of a sudden, mormonism is not a cult, you need to get down on your knees. all of a sudden, did god come to billy graham and say, you know what, i've been thinking about it. mormonism is not a cult. >> congressman a lot of issues for you to choose from there if you want to talk about how they're playing in ohio. >> i think he draws up the contrast prosecutity well on

some of those issues. the republicans are tripping over themselves trying to find something to pin on obama but the reason they can't do it is because they are in some way connected to making matters worse. the whole idea of benghazi and making sure that we have -- we had enough troops on the ground or enough security protection sounds good. until you realize that it was paul ryan and the ideological republican tea party caucus that tried to cut that budget by $300 million so that the president and joe biden and secretary clinton didn't have enough money as they requested to try to provide security. so you get caught up in these things. yeah, they have -- they get amnesia, or romnesia, however you want to speak about it, when you talk about foreign policy and they forget that it was president bush. that got us into the worst foreign policy debacle in the

history of this country. we will be digging ourselves out of the hole in iraq for a long, long time. because of failed intelligence and a variety of other thins. these guys remained -- remind me of a sports announcer. you watch the beginning of the football team and the analyst says, this team is going to win for sure, this is going to be a blowout. then the game is over and they were wrong they don't mention that they were wrong and made bad predicts. that's what these guys remind me of. you guys cause halved of these problems, 3/4 of these problems and you turn around and try to blame obama. but the american people are smart they pay close attention when the time is right. that's why you see obama doing well in places like ohio. >> again, host: again, we're being joined by tim ryan, a democrat from youngstown, ohio, via skype. we go to a caller from ohio. good morning, john. caller: good morning. good morning, mr. ryan.

i am calling to ask you if you're familiar with the ballots that are -- they're having trouble with in switching over when they're voting for mitt romney and at the end the check mark is then over on the democratic side? are you familiar with them? there's been a couple of programs of it. one of them is right here in columbus, ohio. where they've had a few, i'm not going to say a gaggle of them but there's been quite a few. but then i heard you earlier on the delphi workers, that you and senator brown was trying to work something out for them. i just watched a program on that where they were interviewing the delphi workers themselves. they said they have no pension. they're not getting any pension. so it's kind of -- this kind of

spin sounds like it's coming from you there a little bit. >> congressman ryan? >> well you know. it's a tough situation, i will tell you that, with the delphi salary folks. we have been working on it a long, long time. my former coaches and family members who are in that group, i'm not here to spin anything. i'm here to try to help them the best i can. it was a bankruptcy, it's a tough deal. but a lot of those pensions, most of those pensions have gone to the pbgc, where they are getting pension money, may not be getting all of their pension money but they are getting, some are getting all, most are getting almost all,y don't have those exact numbers yet. but we want to find those. these pensions went to the pbcg and they are getting but trezzed. that does not -- buttressed. that does not diminish the suffering of these families and the economic impact in our

community. this is not a political issue, it's not a political football to try to score political points. these are people and families in my district who have worked hard for a long time. we're going to go to the wall for them. host: any issues -- voting issues you have heard about? that's another issue the caller brought up? guest: not any specific issues like that, other than the secretary of state trying to disenfranchise people and limit early voting. it's 2012, and the secretary of state has gone completely out of his way to try to limit the number and hours eligible or available for people to be able to go and vote. he literally tried to get rid of voting the weekend before the election. it has been a huge benefit for working class families to be able to have a month to go and vote. because they are a single mom with two kids, soccer practice, gymnastics and all these other things. working sometimes two jobs. but other than the secretary of

state, fortunately the courts have come in and restricted his ability to try to limit vote, we've been doing really well. our numbers are, the early vote nurs are up. they're over the 2008 numbers. we're moving in the right direction. it's all a tribute to the obama and sherrod brown ground game we have many place. host: on the independent line, you're on with tim ryan. caller: i appreciate your plain speak, i hope you stay true to the politics and not get sucked up into the corruption of the political atmosphere. i do really appreciate that you brought up two points. one is that the mess we were in from 2000 on, americans have a tendency to say, well i don't like the way that was, i want to fix it. we want to talk about 200 years ago but we won't talk about 10 years ago. and the other issue of mr.

husted doing what he's doing, people need to be aware and realize, no matter what side you're on, that goes to the core of who we are. if that starts to happen, we're in big trouble. being a veteran and retired state police from california, i don't really trust people to say, just, i'll take care of everything. we have to make things happen rather than let things happen. what do you think of that? thank you. guest: god point. thank you. it is outrageous to think that the secretary of state, a top election official in a state like ohio, which happens to be the swing state in many presidential leches, would try to limit the availability for people to go and cast their franchise. to me, that is completely outrageous. and fortunately, they didn't get away with it. but it does bring you a certain amount of concern that, what are they going to do after the

election? is there something they can pass through the legislature? there has been comment that they may do. continue to try to limit people's access to the ballot. it doesn't make any sense. i don't think it's fair. and the more we can shed light on this, and the kind of real partisan edge that that -- that this has, the better off we're going to be. >> congress -- host: congressman that wraps up our focus on the swing state of ohio. thank you for joining us via skype. guest: always great to be with you. thank you. >> tomorrow on "washington journal," fred sainz from the human rights campaigns discusses same-sex marriage ballot measures in four states next week. and tony perkins talks about the role of family in the campaign. and jenny bowser talks about ballot measures around the country.

that's live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> these are the stories that got left out. they're great stories about real people, american history. important moments in american history we don't know about. the first pilgrims in america came 50 years before the mayflower sailed. they were french they made wipe they had the good sense to land in florida in june instead of massachusetts in january. then they were killed by spanish. and the woman taken captive by indians, marched into new hampshire. in the middle of the night she killed her captors, realized she could get a bounty for scalps, indian scalps, went back, scalped them, made her way to boston where she was a heroine, they reect -- erected a statue to her, showed her with a hatchet in one hand, scalps in the other.

>> kenneth davis is our guest, he's the best-selling author of the "don't know much" series. the most recent, "don't know much about the american presidents." watch live sunday at noon eastern on c-span2. >> just a few minutes ago, i called vice president bush and congratulated him on his victory. and i know i speak for all of you and all the american people when i say he will be our president. and we'll work with him, this nation faces major challenges ahead. and we must work together. >> i've just received a telephone call from governor dukakis. [cheers and applause] and i want you to know he was most gracious, his call was personal, it was genuinely

friendly, and it was in the great tradition of american politics. >> this weekend on c-span3's american history tv, 20 years of presidential victory and concession speeches. watch sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. >> now first lady michelle obama campaigns in petersburg, vir. the latest real clear polling average shows a statistical tie between president obama and republican presidential candidate mitt romney from virginia state university, just south of rich mopped, this is about 40 minutes. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> thank you all. thank you so much. i'm beyond thrilled to be here. four more days. four more days. but before we get started. in light of what's been going on with our weather situation and here on the east coast, i want to take a moment to talk about the devastating storm that is affecting so many communities, including some right here in virginia. like all of you, barack and i, we are heart broken for all those who lost loved ones in this storm. and of course our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been affected. as you've been see, barack has been working tirelessly with governor, mayors and our outstanding first responders to make sure that everything folks need is right there and they do their job. so i know that we all will come together because that's what we do. we come together.

so even in light of all this excitement and election, we can't forget, when people are struggling, you know, we have to have our focus and our priorities straight, right? with that, i have to also thank brandon for that, whoa, that introduction. [applause] brandon, oh, he is working so hard. he's going to be working on election day. i hope you'll be right there with him. and i also want to thank the president, dr. miller, and his wife nicolette for hosting us here at virginia state. thank you all so much. for the wonderful welcome, this warm welcome, i also want to recognize mayor moore for his leadership and his service. he's here today as well. and i want to also thank your wonderful former first lady, ann holden, for her remarks. i know that her husband,

governor tim kaine, is going to be an outstanding senator for the state of virginia. but most of all, i want to thank all of you. it is so good to see so many faces, so many young people. so many folks all over the region. it sounds like you're fired up and ready to go. and believe me, i am fired up and ready to go myself because in four days, we get the opportunity to re-elect a man who is decent and honest, can i say that again? decent and honest. a man whose courage and integrity we have seen every day for the last four years. you know who i'm talking about. the man i have loved for 23

year, my husband, president barack obama. and let me tell you, i love you too, but let me explain something to all the fellas. i want you to know, what it takes, what really made me fall in love with barack all those years ago. because you know, my heart is taken. but, it was his character. you hear me fellows? character. his compassion. his conviction. his commitment to helping others. that's who he has always been. i also loved that barack was so devoted to his family, especially the women in his life. all right, fellows? so it's important how you treat your mothers. because i saw the respect that

barack had for his mother. you know, i saw how proud he was that she put herself through school while still supporting him and his sister as a single mom. let me tell you, i saw the tenderness he felt for his grandmother and how grateful he was that long after she should have retired, she was still waking up every morning, catching that bus to her job at the community bank, and he watched her as she was passed over for promotions year after year just because she was a woman. but here's what he also saw he saw a woman who kept getting up. every day. doing that same job year after year without complaint or regret. with barack i found a real connection because in his life story, i saw so much of my own. growing up on the south side of chicago -- we have a lot of chicogoans. i watched my father make that

same uncomplaining journey every day to his job at the city water plant. i saw my father carry himself with that same dignity. that same pride. in being able to provide for his family. that same hope that one day his kids would have opportunities he never dreamed of for himself. and like so many families in this country, and i know so many families, like all of you have come from, our families just weren't asking for much. that's the darn thing. they didn't want much. they didn't begrudge anyone else's success. they didn't mind if others had much more than they did. they admired it. that's why they pushed us. that's why so many of you are here. but they simply believed in that fundamental american promise, that even if you don't start out with much, if you work hard and do what you're supposed to do, then you should be able to build a decent life

for yourself and a better life for your kids and grandkids. and they believe that when you worked hard and done well and you finally walked through that doorway of opportunity, you don't slam it shut behind you. you reach back and you give other folks the same chance to help succeed. that's how barack and i and i know so many of you here were raised. and more than anything else, that is what this election is about. it's about choices. it's about choice about our values and our hopes and our aspirations. it's a choice about the kind of cupry we want to leave for our kids and grandkids. in that country, we believe in a lot of stuff. we believe in an america where every child has access to good schools that push them and inspire them and prepare them for jobs of the future. we believe in an america where

no one goes broke because someone gets sick or loses a job. we believe in an america where we all understand that none uh of us gets where we are on our own and we treat everyone with dignity and respect from the teachers who inspire us to the janitors who keep our schools clean. and in this america that we have been building together, we believe that the truth matters. that you don't take shortcuts. you don't game the system. and finally, we believe in keeping our priorities straight. what do i mean? everyone in here knows good and well that cutting sesame street is no way to balance our budget. we know better than that. instead, we know we need to cut wasteful spending. but we also have to make smart investments in things like education and infrastructure for an economy that's built to

last. that's what my husband stands for. that's the country he's been working to build and since the kay he took office, on issue after issue, crisis after crisis, i have been there, that is what we have seen in our president. think back to when barack first took office. this economy was on the brink of collapse. you don't have to take my word for it. newspapers were using words like meltdown. calamity. declaring wall street implodse, economy in shock. what was going on, the auto industry was in crisis. the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month. and a lot of folks were wondering whether we were headed for another great depression. this is what barack faced on day one as president. but instead of pointing fingers and placing blame, your president got to work.

because he was thinking about folks like my dad, like his grandmother. that's why he cut taxes for small businesses and working families. he believes that here in america, teachers and firefighters should not pay higher tax rates than millionaires and billionaires. not in america. that's why, while some folks were willing to let the auto industry go under, you know who i'm talking about, with more than a million jobs that would have been lost, barack had the backs of american workers. and that's why today, the american auto industry is back on its feet again. and yes, while we still have a way to go to completely rebuild this economy, there are more and more clear signs every day that we are on the road to recovery. exports have grown by 45%. this morning, we learned that companies hired more workers in

october than any time in the last eight months. the majority of my husband's presidency, now 32 straight months, private sector job growth, nearly 5.5 million new jobs created under this administration, good jobs, right here in the united states of america. now, when it comes to giving our young people the education they deserve, understand this, barack knows that like me, and like so many of you, there is absolutely no way we could have gone to college without financial aid. we would not be standing here today without financial aid. we didn't have parents with money that could pay our tuition. so understand this, when it comes to student debt, barack and i, we've been there. that's why barack doubled funding for pell grants and

fought so hard to keep interest rates down. because fortunately, we have a president who understands how important it is for all of our young people to have a chance to go to college without a mountain of debt. and finally, when it comes to understanding the lives of women -- [applause] we all know that my husband will always have our backs. because barack knows from personal experience what it means for a family when women aren't treated fairly in the workplace. and that's why the very first bill he signed into law as president was the lilly ledbetter fair pay act to help women get equal pay for equal work. that's why he will always, always fight to make sure that we as women can make our own choices about our bodies and our health care. and we cannot forget that because of health reform, the health reform he passed, the

historic health reform that he passed, insurance companies can no longer charge women more than men for the same coverage. also, because of health reform, they won't be able to discriminate against any of us because we have a pre-existing condition. let's say diabetes or asthma. as brandon mentioned, young people can stay on your parents' insurance until you're 26 years old. [applause] and here's one that always gets me. it's a wonder how many people have dealt with this situation. if you get a life-threatening illness and you need expensive treatment, insurance companies can no longer tell you, sorry, you have hit your lifetime limit and we're not paying a penny more. that's now illegal because of health reform. with four more days to go, i know, i know you're going to be out there talking to folks.

i know you're going to be out there, working. and when you run into people who are trying to decide who is the best person to keep this country moving forward, here -- here's just a few things you can tell them. in addition to telling them about all that barack has done for our economy, health care, and education. tell them about how he ended the war in iraq. remind them -- remind them under his leadership how we took out osama bin laden. tell them how this president has been fighting every day to give veterans and military families the benefits they've earned. tell them how all the young imgrans who live throughout this country who will no longer live in fear from being deported from the only country they have ever called home. tell them about all the brave service members who will never again have to lie about who

they are to serve the country they love. and if they want to know about plans, future plan, send them to our website, barackobama .com. you can learn what he's going to do, create manager jobs rsh dicing the deficit and so much more. but here's what i really want you to they will them. what i think is so important for people in this country to understand. i want them to know that barack understands the american dream because he's lived it. and he has been fighting every day so that every one of us in this country can have that same opportunity. no matter who we are or where we're from or what we look like or who we love. but let's be clear. while he is very proud of all that we have achieved together, my husband is nowhere near satisfied. of all the people on this planet, barack knows better than anyone that too many people are still hurting.

but as president clinton said, it's going to take a lot longer than four years to finish rebuilding an economy from the brink of collapse. everybody knows that. so here's what i also know. for the past four years, together, slowly but surely, we have been pull ourselves out of that hole that we started in. we've been moving forward and making real, meaningful change. so before anybody goes to the polls, we have to ask ourselves, are we going to turn around and go back to the same policies that got us in that hole in the first place? are we just going to sit back and watch everything we worked for and fought for to just slip away? or are we going to keep moving this country forward. forward!

forward! we need to keep moving forward. but in the end, here's the thing. the answers to these questions right now is on us. all of us. because believe me, all of our hard work, all the wonderful progress we have made, understand, it's all at stake. i mean, the choices in this race are so clear. and as my husband has said, this election will be even closer than the last one. that is the only guarantee. and it will all come down to what happens in just a few battleground states like right here in virginia. so as you all start gearing up for the next four days, let me just put some things in perspective, just how close these elections are. back in 2008, barack won virginia by about 235,000 votes. and while that might sound like a lot, when you break that

number down across precincts, across an entire state, that's just 100 votes per precinct. in north carolina, the margin of difference was even closer. that's another battleground state. it was just five votes per precinct. just think about that. that could mean just one vote in a neighborhood. just a single vote in an apartment building on your college campus. so if there is anyone here, anyone you know, who might be thinking that their vote doesn't matter, that their involvement doesn't count, that in this complex political process, that ordinary folks can't possibly make a difference, they absolutely can. i want you to think about those 100 votes. there are 100 votes of folks that aren't sitting here. we all know somebody that didn't vote in the last election. we all know five or 10 people. we know people right now who might not make it to the polls.

think about those 100. everybody here is responsible for five people. we win. we win. so i want you to think about how with just a few more hours knocking on door, this weekend, making calls with just a few hours, getting some more people to the polls, just a few of you here, today, could swing an entire precinct for barack obama. and if we win enough precincts, we will win the state. when we win the state, we'll be well on the way to putting barack back in the white house. it absolutely matters. so before you leave today, find one of our volunteers with clipboards, because we've got them here, sign up to volunteer on the campaign. but more importantly, for the next four days, especially our young people, because it's a weekend. it's friday. i know you've got plans.

put those plans off until next weekend. just one weekend. and spend it reaching out to every you know. everyone you know. fetch they're not on campus. call home. call home, call your friends, the neighbors, that cousin you haven't seen in a while that class mate sitting next to you who you know is not going to get up and go to vote. you all know at least one, two, three of those classmates. absolutely the military. i will talk to you after this. i'm not going to be able to have a full conversation with you in the room but i'll be right down. i love you though. i love you though. but you know one of my primary issues has been working for military families and we need four more years of good, solid work. but if anybody has any

questions, send them to vote.barackobama.com. for all the information they need. love you guys. and just know, everything we do between now and and november will make the tinches. we love you. i love you. [applause] you all don't know how much your love, support, and prayers keeps barack and i standing up straight. so don't ever, ever underestimate that. but make no mistake, all that love, take it to the polls. take it all to the polls. because make no mistake about it. what we do between now and election day over these next four kays, will absolutely make

-- four day, will absolutely make the difference between waking up the day after election day and wondering, wow, could i have done more, or feing -- feeling the promise of four more years. so from now until election day, we need you to work and push like never before. here's the thing. what i want young people to understand,est lerble -- especially our young people in college. i know that you face some struggles and you have some doubts and you hit some barriers and you wonder where this is all worth it, whether this change can really happen, but please know this, that's how change always happens in this country. we know from our history that change is hard. shoot, life is hard. but let me tell you something. it requires patience and persistence and tenacity. as you watch this president over the past four years, and you have seen his calm, his steadiness, as he's been hit with thing after thing after thing.

that's the kind of tenacity that it takes. but what we understand is that if we keep showing up, if we keep showing up, you know if we keep fighting that good fight and doing what we know in our hearts is right, then understand this, eventually we get there we always do. you have to know that in your mind. and that is why we have every reason, all of you, especially our young people all over the country, you have every reason to be optimistic about what lies ahead. because we know that here in america, with we always move forward. we always make progress. we never go backwards. and in the end, that's what this is about. don't let anybody tell you differently. that's what elections are always about. elections are about hope. what kind of hope am i talking about?

the hope that i saw on my father's face as i walked across the stage to get my college diploma. the diploma that he took out loans to help me get. the hope barack's grandmother felt as she cast her ballot for the grandson she loved and raised. the hope of all of those men and women in our lives who worked that extra shift for us. who saved and sacrificed and prayed so that we could be here. we are standing on their shoulders. the hope that so many of us feel when we look into the eyes of our own kids and grandkids. that's the hope i'm talking about. and that's why we're here. we're here today because of our kids. because we want all of our kids in this country to have a solid foundation for their dreams. we want to give all our children opportunities worthy of their promise. i don't care where you live,

what party you belong to, we all know good and well that every child in this country is worthy. we want to give them that sense of limitless possibility, that belief that here in america, the greatest country on the planet, do you young people hear me? there is always something better out there if you're willing to work for it. so here's what me and barack tell ourselves every day. we cannot turn back now. not now. we will not turn back now. we have come so far. but we have got so much more work to do. so let me ask you one last question, are you ready for this. -- are you ready for this? are you fired up? are you ready to go? four more days for four years. let's get to work, thank you. god bless. [cheers and applause]

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>> all week long we have been highlighting key battleground states. today we put the spotlight on the state of virginia. there are 13 electoral votes at intrastate. the current unemployment rate 5.2%. president obama 1 the state by six percentage points resist the first time a democrat has won since 1964. joining us from the university of virginia is larry savito. what are the issues that are

being campaign don in virginia? guest: the same issues as everywhere else. the economy is foremost. it is if there is any special flavor to virginia. we cover all 50 states of the university of virginia. if there is any special flavor, it is probably defense. it depends on defense to a greater degree than any other state except for alaska's. there is a special flavor on defense, a special flavor on special spending. the hampton roads off of virginia beach and the localities. >> what are the demographics of the state of virginia? >> as with most population

states, there are many states in 1 parity have a northern virginia, which is about one- third of the population, it produces 30% of the votes of some more. that population is national and international in scope. it is the highest income region. it has the people with the highest education levels in the state on average. it tends to be the most democratic region. if they go down to hampton roads, that is a heavy defense industry area.

it is both white-collar and blue-collar, also has a large african-american population. and it also has a relatively low nativity rate, that is people not necessarily born in virginia, due to the influence of the navy. the navy brings lots of people in from across the nation and across the world. the richmond area is an urban area, but it's probably the most conservative urban region in this area and maybe one of the most conservative in the country. of course, is a traditional area, particularly because of the west side of richmond, the city of richmond, the east side is heavily african-american and the west side is predominately white and his conservative with a high nativity rate. some of the surrounding counties have become more diverse over the years, but by and large it is also a conservative suburban ex-urban area. those are three. you may include far south virginia and a world unto itself. it used to be substantially republican, but mountain valley republican, a more liberal

republican flavor intuit. then it went democratic and now it's very conservative republican, in part because coal is such a major part of the economy down there. and there is outside virginia, on the north carolina border, many of those counties are majority african-american, 40% or so. the piedmont, which includes the city of charlottesville, a very mixed region of democratic and republican localities. by and large, you break virginia down into an urban, suburban, ex-urban, rural, which is now under 20%. the most important swing areas are loudoun county, prince william county, northern virginia, probably in chesterfield, richmond, chesapeake, suffolk, virginia beach, and the tidewater area. host: if you look at the map of voting in 2000 aid and 2004 for the state of virginia, you can see a lot of red, but the president won the state of virginia by six percentage points in 2008, winning the northern virginia area around washington, d.c. and some around charlottesville as well and a couple of the counties in the tidewater region.

you can see it is compared with 2004 when george w. bush won the state. you can see that president bush won more of the tidewater region than did john mccain in 2008. if you were president obama and you were mitt romney, where would you focus your resources, larry? guest: you can tell by where they are visiting. romney spends a lot of time in the richmond area. he needs a big vote out of those localities, some of which voted for president obama. other various conservative

localities like chesterfield county went as high as 45% for president obama in 2008. there's no way for republicans to win statewide and allow centreville to get 45% of the votes to obama. they're both campaigning in northern virginia. it is the linchpin of a statewide victory for president obama. he needs to do well in the big, growing burgeoning prince george county and loudoun county, as well as fairfax. yes, the two areas are small, but trees and rocks and acres don't vote, at least in most states and localities. host: what kind of the voting system is used in virginia? guest: the computerized systems are used almost everywhere. we have eliminated paper ballots accept as a backup in case of emergency.

we don't have a lever machines anymore, that i grew up with. i am a native virginian. we thought the lever machines were pretty neat, but they are long gone. now you have computerized machines almost everywhere in one form or another. host: some of the demographics of the state, 64.5% white. 19.8% black. hispanic population, 8.2%. the lead story in the wall street about the latino vote nationwide, what about in virginia when it comes to the latino vote? guest: those figures are a little deceptive, because you are talking about population. in my field, we look at the registered group. we look at those that have a greater propensity. propensity go whites tend to be over 70% of the actual election

day turnout. african-americans, it varies. that can be as low as 15% and as high as 20%, as they were in the 2008 presidential election. hispanics are a small slice, but a growing slice in virginia. this is not colorado or nevada or mexico. nonetheless, hispanics in virginia, as in many of the other states, to be very heavily democratic. and so, to the extent they turn out, even if they are only 4% of the statewide votes in any given year, they can assist democrats. let me mention asian americans, because they have become increasingly important in virginia, even though they are a small percentage of the population and the registered population. in northern virginia in particular, they have become exceptionally active. they give a lot of money to candidates. they are predominantly democratic, although slices of

the asian-american population, such as vietnamese americans, will support republicans. it goes to show that in a diverse population, virginia has become tremendously diverse. when i was growing up, the white turnout on election day was about 85% of the total. as i mentioned, it's low 70's today. that makes a giant difference. you can tell it in the election results. even a small slice of the population can have a big impact in a state that is increasingly diverse and increasingly politically competitive. such as virginia and many other states are. host: the director of the center for politics that at the university of the virginia is with us. >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney and his wife at a campaign rally in in

goal would, call a lot of. then president obama and former president bill clinton speak at 10:debbie 5 eastern tomorrow night on c-span. >> we do not have a notion. we do not have the highest mountains. what we have is the maypole image. this is the sugar maple or hard rock maple. it is the trade we use for sugaring. it averages 2% share content until its sap a. what we do to start the season is drill a hole to war and the tree.

we need to drill a new hole in a different place every year. this tree here was tapped last spring in 2012. you can i get the spot and. that means the tree is healthy and healing. it will not run sap at that point. next year will vote but to the other side of the tree and drill a hole in a fresh place. here you see 2011 and 2010. i can say, this tree has been on the farm 100 years and enter a row. we do not heard to the trees. -- we do not hurt the trees. >> saturday at noon eastern on

"book tv,">> we will have a grea clucks from now until election day, sir brett's will travel to colorado, ohio, iowa, michigan, north carolina, michigan, nevada, va., and wisconsin for the mitt romney, paul ryan ticket. this is over one hour. >> senator kay bailey hutchinson. marcia blackburn, pam bondy, sam

brownback, phil bryant, bay buchanan. jason chayfits. norm coleman barbara comstuck. arthur davis. rudy guliani. dave dideman bobby jindal. cindy mccain. john mccain. ob mcdonnell. rick perry. rince priebus. martha roy. rick santorum.

aaron shock. jim tallant. john thune. pat tome. scott walker. mike turner. steve chabis. from the great state of ohio, mary tyalor. mary taylor.

>> four more years! four more years! >> are we ready to do everything we can in ohio 2 elective mitt romney and paul ryan, the next president and vice president of the united states? [cheers and applause] as always, a great crowd of the intro west chester, ohio. this is outstanding. i have done a lot of great rallies over the last couple of weeks. i have three simple reasons.

i would like to go through them quickly with you. president obama comes to ohio and likes to take credit for getting our state to back on track. we know that is not true. it is the work governor kasich and i have done with to balance the budget and get our state back on track. but we did not raise taxes. we cut taxes. here is my second reason. this one is personal for me. my youngest son is 18 years old and he voted for the first time this year in a presidential election. a couple of weeks ago his friends were gathering at our house. i decided, i wonder what they are talking about. girls, the football game, the

next concert they will go to. i went upstairs, i was just listening outside the door. they did that know i was there. they were talking about the election. they know their future is riding on four more days. [cheers and applause] here is my last recession. if i could talk to just the way men and then to the audience. i see there are just a few women here tonight to. the democrats of talked a lot about the war on women. that may tell you what i think the war on women is. for the first time in 17 years

we have more women living in poverty. we had a 6 million women unemployed today and over 400,000 of those women have lost jobs until the last four years. that is a war on women if you ask me. we want jobs. that's great. you can come back to the conversation. this is the last, number three, and it applies to all of us here tonight. after this last debate i asked myself one simple question and i'll ask you that question tonight. who do we trust as parents and grandparents to protect our sons and daughters when their sent to foreign lands to protect our country? my answer, mitt romney. and this is my final message to our president currently, barack obama if you're a country music

fan you may recognize the lyrics. you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. so please welcome our next speaker, the governor of the great state of ohio. [applause] >> do you like what's going on in ohio? we're growing jobs and helping families. well let me tell you what we're

doing in mow hoe is what mitt romney is going to do in washington and get this country back on track again. [applause] it's really faith ladies and gentlemen and boys and girls, and by the way i've never seen so many young people at campaign rallies. and i'll tell you what i think it's all about. we as americans recognize we have two paths to choose. we've seen what the last four years gives us and it gives us more government that's inefficient and doesn't work very well. it gives us the possibility of even higher taxes. and there's a lot of reasons i hate higher taxes, the biggest reason is i know where that money goes in that city and it's time to clean it up down there. the last thing we need is higher taxes and regulators.

instead of embracing the people that give people opportunity for jobs, they pound on us, they pound on small business people and stunt our growth. but we have another choice here tonight. and that's why there is so many people here tonight. you know it's about that american dream. you know government is not the answer. government is the last resort and not a first resort. and we know we're stronger when we run america from the bottom up. when people have more money in their pocket. when families have more wealth and people get jobs. and the greatest issue in america today is jobs. and the reason is mom and dad are working, the family is stronger t children are stronger. it all works for a stronger america and stronger communities.

that is what mitt romney and paul ryan will give us, stronger families and stronger communities. and it's not theory. i have to tell you ladies and gentlemen if there's anything we need no government today it's people who know how to create jobs. we need that and mitt romney has been a successful job creator and when they attack him those are people that don't understand how to rise america. he's a proven job creator and then he went into government. and he took the state of massachusetts from deficits to surplus, from job losses to job gains. and let's think about his pure leadership capability in those olympics. he didn't lead with a title and he didn't lead with anything other than the ability of a human being to raise the bar of everybody else. you know what, my kids are 12 years old. i want an america that will give the next generation more than the last generation gave to us. that's the greatest american tradition that we celebrate across our great country.

i know he's going to deliver that. i'm not for mitt romney just because he happens to be a republican. i'm for mitt romney because he will lead to a brighter and stronger america and a brighter and stronger ohio. we need the wind at our back, not in our face. there are a lot of polls out there talking about what the going to happen. i've thought about it long and hard and i don't spin a lot. i do it straight from the shoulder. look around. look at this crowd. look at this enthusiasm and not just here. not just here but all across this state of ohio.

yes the world is watching us. the world is watching ohio and i've got a message for the world that is watching. we are going to elect mitt romney and paul ryan president and vice president of the united states. and it is my pleasure to introduce the chairman of the romney campaign in ohio, i think he did a pretty good job preparing mitt romney to debate barack obama, a great united states senator rob portman.

>> ohio looks like romney ryan country to me tonight. i know it's cold out there but we're freezing for a reason aren't we? it's about our families, it's about our commune tiss and it's about our country. four more days to avoid four more years. it's worth it. [applause] is the chair of ohio i got to ask you a couple of things. the first one is go ahead and vote. jane and i did it today their open tomorrow from 8:00 to 2:00. tell me you're going to go bank your vote. are you going to do that. i need you to do that to free you up on election day to get more people to the polls. now second, we got to put up more signs and make more phone

calls and more door to door. will you commit to do that over the next four days? of course you will. we're in the fourth quarter. getting toward end of the fourth quarter. the game is tide. we're in the red zone. we've got the football. are we going to take mitt romney and paul ryan over the goal line? of course we are. folks, no one wants mitt romney to win more than the speaker of the house john boehner. you know why, because he and mitt romney share the same passion and that's a passion to restore the american promise and bring back the american dream. he needs a partner in the oval office who will do that with him.

ladies and gentlemen, john boehner. [applause] >> i've been on the road for the last six weeks helping my candidate and every place i go people ask me how are we going to do in ohio. well, by the looks of things tonight, i think we're in romney ryan country right here. i couldn't be more proud of the team we've got on the ballot here in ohio this year.

mitt romney, paul ryan, josh man dell, sharon kennedy, a team ready to bring america back. [applause] a lot of you know i grew up not far from here but we moved here almost 38 years ago. raised our daughters here, moved my business here. this is our home. and i couldn't think of a prouder time for a westchester ohio than tonight. when i was running my business here, i saw how government could make it harder. i saw what government could do to stifle job creation. this is the heart land of america and in some ways this is where it all started for paul

ryan as well. we got involved to help stave american dream. and four years ago people gave barack obama and chance to do just that. they believed him when he said heed turn things around. he talked about hope and change and post partisan politics and all we've gotten for the american people is they're hoping for change. so here we are four years later the american people are still asking the question, where are the jobs. we've got less jobs and we've got less freedom. do we want four more years like that? can we afford four more years like that? hell no, we can't. we need more jobs and we need more freedom. simple as that. listen, tonight is a proud moment for our town but it's

also a call to action. if you haven't voted yet, go vote early. don't wait until tuesday, go vote early. you can knock on doors, you can make phone calls. you can go to my office. we need your help over these next four days if we're going to bring this thing home. ohio is where this closing push begins and it's ohio where this election victory is going to be won. \[applause] 23 years ago i was a candidate for congress for the first time. and you know if you're me you got a handicap trying to run for a political office when your name likes like beaner, bainer they're not going to vote for you unless they can say your name. i was against a former congressman who wanted his job back and his name was tom kindness.

nobody thought i could win. a lot of you helped me win that race. there was a 20-year-old college student at miami of ohio putting yard signs -- [applause] 22 years ago tonight i had a 20-year-old miami student putting yard signs up for me in ohio. i've known paul ryan a long time which one of the most decent honest guys you'll ever meet. one of the smartest guys in congress that knows more about policies progrowth than anybody. somebody who can help lead our country. but he's also a great father and great husband. help me welcome the next vice president of the united states,

paul ryan. [applause]

o.h. i love that. thank you so much. thank you for waiting in line. thank you for coming here tonight. thank you for knocking on the doors, for making the phone calls. thank you ohio for delivering your state for the next president of the united states mitt romney. [applause] i want to thank my speaker, our speaker john boehner for being the speaker. [applause] i want to thank the other leaders for what you've done for our country. and i want to introduce you to

my best and better half, my wife. i got my lucky buck eye with me tonight. rob guarantees me this wins elections. while we're celebrating tonight, the fact that we can come together and save this country and put us on the right track, let's keep our fellow americans in the northeast who are surfing in the wake of the storm in our prayers. we can go to red cross.org and make a donation. if you can i would encourage you to do that because we come together in our moment of need and that's what we owe our friends in the northeast. this is a big election. we have a really big choice ahead of us.

we are not just picking a president for four more years. we are choosing for at least a generation what kind of people we're going to be and what kind of country we're going to give to our kids and grandkids. in ohio you know it. you know you're the lynch pin, you're the battleground of battlegrounds. ohio, are you going to help us win this thing? [applause] that's exactly right. four years ago -- that's right. four years ago president obama said he would do all these great things, hope and change. heed cut the deficit in half,

heed bring everybody together. the deficit has doubled. it's the most partisan time we've had and just look at the jobs that didn't occur. we got a new jobs report today. unemployment is higher than the day he took office. you got 23 million americans struggling for work today. 15% of our fellow citizens living in poverty today. that's the highest in a generation. all those jobs he said heed create if he borrowed a lot of money and gave it to these interest groups, it didn't material lies. we have a jobs crisis. wouldn't it be nice to actually have a job creator in the white house for a change? [applause] four years ago i want to read you a quote. if you don't have fresh ideas, use stale tactics to scare voters.

if you don't have a record to run on then you paint your opponent someone should one from. you make a big election about small things. you know who that was four years ago. so you do know who that was four years ago. that's what president obama when he was candidate said four years ago and that's exactly what he has become. here's the good news. we don't have to take this anymore. \[applause] the good news is we don't have to settle for this. we can do better than this. we need leadership, we need mitt romney as our next president of the united states. this is a time for big ideas. this is a time for a real reform for real recovery. this is who mitt romney is. look at this man's life.

achievements, leadership. look at what he's done in the private sector. he helped create tens of,000 thousands of jobs. being successful, that's a good thing. we believe in success. we want more of it. this is a man who reached across the aisle, who didn't demonize democrats. he worked with them. he found common ground and got things down. he balanced a budget without raising taxes. that's the kind of leadership we need. ladies and gentlemen, this is big and it's bigger than just paycheck issues. it's the most election in our life times no matter what generation we come from. it's about the american idea. no matter who you are or where you come from in this country because of freedom, because of

liberty, because of self- determination, because of those timeless founding principles, because the government is supposed to work for us and not the other way around. we have the american idea. that's what this country is built on. our rights come from nature's god, not from government. that's the idea. our founders created this vision. they founded the country on it and every one of these veterans here in the audience, they put on the uniform and fought for us and preserved it for us and we thank them for what they've done for our country. this is our moment, ohio. this is the time when we want to wake up on wednesday morning and look back and see that we

met the moment. we want to make sure that we talk to everybody we know who thought hope and change sounded good but they now know it didn't work. this is the time to elect a leader. this is the moment where the man and the moment are meeting perfectly. mitt romney is the right man for this moment. we can do this. we know what we need to do. we are not going to duck these tough issues. we are not going to run away from our problems. we are going to tackle this country's problems before they tackle us and we're not going to spend the next four years blaming other people, we're going to take responsibility and fix this mess in washington. we are not going to try to transform this country into something it was never intended to be. look, i've spent four years of my live at miami of ohio. this is a good place.

we know who we are. we know what we believe in. we know what made this country great. and ladies and gentlemen i am so honored. i am so proud to introduce to you the next president and first lady of the united states mitt and ann romney. [applause]

>> thank you so much. thank you. thank you ohio. i know who you're here to see and she's right next to me.

>> this is quite a crowd. who is going to win next tuesday? and is ohio going to do it for us? what a thrill for us to be here. what a thrill for me to stand next to the man that is going to be the next president of the united states. [applause] this is a man that will not fail. this is a man that is going to turn around america and i'm going to be so happy to be by his side when i can watch him do that. so thank you all very much.

>> thank you so much. what a gathering tonight. i want to thank you for joining paul and me and our families and our friends tonight. you are sending a message tonight to the entire nation. thank you. and by the way, thanks to kid rock and the other entertainers who have come for us and to the extraordinary team of national leaders who have gathered here. look at this team here. you probably heard they've gathered here tonight because they're about to fan out across the entire nation to make sure we have victory on november 6. and some comic in the team has named us the romney ryan recovery rally. you're going to see them going across the country. we're going to make sure this is the place we take and we're going to take back the white house.

it's good to be in ohio and in john boehner's hometown. this is the state we have to win. now i want to take just a moment to remind all of us that there are many, many of our fellow americans that are surfing from the devastation caused by hurricane sandy and our thoughts and prayers go out to them. and if you're able to help please donate to the salvation army or american red cross. we're a generous people. don't forget them. let me tell you it's great to be here with the next vice president of the united states, paul ryan and his wife.

next to ann romney, paul ryan is the best choice i've made. we enter the final week of the campaign. and obama is saying four more years. we have a different cry of course. what is it? >> look what i've started. we are so very grateful to you and to the people across this country who have given to this campaign. it's not about paul and me. it's about america and the future we're going to leave to our children which we thank you and ask you to stay at it all the way until victory on tuesday night. [applause]

now i have a question for you, are you finally ready for real change? [applause] as you know four years ago barack obama promised to do so much. he promised to be a bipartisan but he became the most partisan. then he was going to focus on jobs instead he focused on obama care which killed jobs. he said he was going to cut the deficit in half but doubled it. he said the unemployment rate would be at 5.2% and today we learned it's at 7.9. unemployment is higher today than when he took office. he promised he would propose a plan to save social security and medicare from insolvency. he didn't. rather he raided $716 from medicare for his obama care

plan. he said heed lower healthcare premiums for the average family by $2000 a year which now they're higher. and gasoline the american family pays $2,000 more a year than when the president was elected. he said he would work across the aisle on important issues. he has not met on the economy or budget or jobs with either the republican leader of the house or senate since july. so instead of bridging the divide he's made it wider. how has he fallen so sort of what he promised. in part because he never led before or worked across the aisle or understood how jobs are created in the real economy. so today he makes new promises. promises heel be enable to keep because he admits he's going to

stay on the same path. the same path means $20 trillion in debt. it means crippling unemployment. stagnant take home pay. depressed home values and a devastated military. unless we change we may be looking at another recession. the question of this election comes down to this do you want more of the same or do you want real change? now president obama promised change but he couldn't deliver it. i promised change and i have a record of achieving it. i actually built a business and i turned another business i put the olympics back on track. i put my state from job loss to job growth and from higher

taxes to higher take-home pay. that's why i'm running for president. i know how to change the course the nation is on. i know how to get us to a balanced budget and how to build jobs and rising take home pay. and by the way accomplishing real change is not something i just talk about, it's something i've done. it's what i'm going to do when i'm president of the united states with your help. if you believe we can do better, if you believe america should be on a better course. if you're tired of being tired. then i ask you to vote for real change and paul ryan will bring real change to america from day one. now i know that when we're elected, the economy and

american jobs will still be stagnant but i'm not going to waste any time complaining about my predecessor. i won't spend my time trying to pass -- from day one i'm going to go to work helping americans get back to work. people across the country are responding to our five part plan to create jobs. and you've heard about it before. part one is taking full advantage of our energy resources. on day one i'm going to increase the number of permits to drill on federal lands. i'm going to act speed approval of the keystone pipeline from canada. and i'm going to revisit coal regulations that were designed by the administration to strangle the industry. [applause] so on day one we'll be closer to energy independence. second i'm going to move to boost trade to latin america especially and i'm going to ask congress for authority that is a power every president has used with the exception of president obama.

and i will finally designate china as a currency ma nip pew late tor. it's time to make trade work for america. thegoing to send congress training reform act. who make every worker can get the skills and chance for a good paying job, we deserve it. [applause] torth i'm going to move tackle out of control spending. i'm going to send congress the first of several fundamental reforms. the first will be called the down payment on fiscal sanity act to immediately cut, not just slow the rate of growth but actually cut non-security discretionary spending by 5%. i'm not going to take office on january 20g9. i'm going to take responsibility for that office as well. [applause]

and number five i'm going to act to boost small business and all business. i'm going to issue executive orders at the problems holding this country back. the first will be to grant wavers to all states from obama care so we can begin it's repeal. the launch of a sweeping review of all obama era regulations will follow with a eye to repair or eliminating any regulation that kills jobs or hurts business. every small business person, every job creator will know for the first time in four years the government of the united states likes them and loves the jobs and higher wages they bring to our fellow americans. [applause] we've almost forgotten what a real recovery looks like. what americans can achieve when we limit government instead of limiting the dreams of our

fellow americans. and that's going to change. now you can choose your future. you know what you need to know. you can stay on the path of the last four years or you can choose real change. you know that if the president were to be re-elected, he would still be enable to work with the people in congress. he's ignored them, he's tacked them, blamed them. the debt ceiling is going to come up again and shut down and default will be threatened chilling the economy. the president was right the other day when he said he can't change washington from the inside. we're going to take him at his word and heel be outside washington soon. [applause] now if i'm elect -- when i'm

elected president -- [applause] i'm going to work with republicans and democrats in congress. i'm going to meet regularly with their leaders. i'll endeavor to find those good and men and women on both sides of the aisle who care more about the country than about politics. together we're going to put the nation on track to a balance budget, to reform our tax code and to finally reaffirm our commitment to financial responsibility. it's got to happen. [applause] now you know if the president were to be re-elected, heed continue his war on coal and oil and natural gas. heed spend billions of more dollars to his favorite companies and this would guarantee higher prices at the pumps and fewer jobs. today gasoline cost twice as much as when president obama was elected. when i'm elected we're going to change course on energy. we can help hold down prices at

the pump, grow new energy and manufacturing jobs and get north american energy independent. [applause] now you know if the president is re-elected he's going to continue to promote government and demote businesses. he chose by the way his own jobs counsel sill was made up of the biz leaders he selected. it's been nine months since he met with them. i see free enterprise as a means for people to fulfill their dreams. yesterday i was in virginia. i met a lady who has been running her family restaurants for years. it's been in the family for 82 years. and at high point she employed 82 people. she just closed it down. telling me that regulations and

taxes and obama care and the effect was of the obama economy put her out of business after 82 years. she teared up. this wasn't about money. this was about the future for her family and for her family of employees employs. look i want to help the people like her and i will. [applause] you know if the president is re- elected he's going to say every good thing you can think of about education but in the final analysis heel do what his biggest supporters, the public sector unions insist upon and your kids will be in the same schools with the same results. ton i'm president i'm going be a voice of the children and the parents. there's no union for the p.t.a. [applause]

i'm going to make sure parents have the information they need to know if their school is succeeding or failing and i want them to have the choice they can pick the school where their child can succeed. [applause] i've watched over these last few months as our campaign has gathered the strength of a movement, not only size of crowds like this, it's the depth of our shared conviction. our readiness for new possibilities. the sense that our work is soon to begin. it's made me strive more to be worthy of your support, to campaign as i would govern. to speak for the aspirations of all americans. i learned the best achievements are shared achievements. i learned respect go along way and are returned in kind. that's how i'll conduct myself as president. i'll reach out to both sides of the aisle and bring people together and do things for the

common good which i won't represent one party. i'll represent one nation. [applause] i'll try to show the best of america at a time when only our best will do. throughout the campaign president obama has tried to convince you that these last four years have been a success. he's been floating a plan for the next four years. he wants to take all the things he did in his first term, the stimulus, obama care and try them all over again. but our big dreams will not be satisfied with a small agenda that's already failed us. and today did you see what president obama said today? he asked his supporters to vote for revenge, for revenge. instead i ask the american people to vote for love of

country. [applause] >> usa, usa, usa! us, usa, usa! >> it is absolutely essential that together we lead america to a better place than that. we are four days away from a fresh start. four days away from the first day of a new beginning. my conviction that better days are ahead is not based on promised and hollow rhetoric but on proven results and an unshakable faith in the american spirit. if there is anyone worried that the last four years are the best we can do.

if anyone fears is american dream is fading, if there is anyone who wonders whether better jobs and better pay checks are a thing of the past, i have a clear message, with the right leadership, america is coming roaring back. [applause] we are americans, we can do anything. the only thing that stands between us and some of the best years we've ever known is a lack of leadership and that's why we have elections. this tuesday is a moment to look into the future and imagine what we can do. put the past four years behind us and start building a new future. you saw the differences when president obama were side to side in our debates. [applause] he says it has to be this way. i say it can't stay this way. he is offering excuses. i've got a plan. i can't wait for us to get

started. he's hoping we'll settle. americans don't settle. we build. we aspire. we listen to that voice inside us that says we can do better, a better job, a better life for our kids, a bigger better country. that life is out there waiting for us. our destiny is in the hands of american people. four more days. >> four more days! four more days! >> four more days and we can to work rebuilding our country, restoring our confidence and conviction. confidence that college garage watts four years from now will find better jobs. [applause] confidence that single moms

working two jobs today will have a shot at a better job tomorrow. on november 6, we come together for a better future. on november 7 we'll get to work. we'll reach across -- we're going to reach across the street to that neighbor with the other yard sign and we'll reach across the aisle in washington to people of good faith in that other party. there is so much more than this being our moment. it's america's moment of purpose and optimism. we've journeyed far and wide for this campaign. one final push will get us there. we've known many long days and short nights and we are so very close. the door to a brighter future is there. it's open. it's waiting for us. i need your vote. i need your help. walk with me, walk together. [applause]

>> we want mitt! we want mitt! we want mitt! >> you know, some time ago ann and i watched a show on television. ed the a fictional football team that would go out of the locker room and touch assign as they headed out to the gridiron where they would play teams that were ranked higher than they. and the sign they touched said clear eyes, full hearts can't lose. i'm convinced that the people

of ohio have clear eyes. you understand what is at stake. i know you have full hearts, you love this country and its future. and i know we can't lose on tuesday. we're going to win. i need your help. god bless you and god bless the united states of america. thank you so very much. thank you. [applause] ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> now president obama speaks at a campaign rally in hilliard,

ohio, one of several stops he made in the buckeye state. he will also stop in new hampshire, florida, wisconsin, and colorado. this is 40 minutes. >> hello, ohio. o-h. o-h. [applause] it's good to be back. can everybody give judy a big round of applause? judy is an example of the incredible volunteers involved in this campaign each and every day, knocking on doors and making phone calls. i love all of you and am grateful to all of you for all your great work. [applause] give it up for your former governor and our great friend ted strickland. [applause]

poor ted has got a cold but he is backstage and he is still out campaigning. i love you back. [applause] you know -- [applause] i can tell it as a rowdy crowd. [applause] all right, all right, all right. [four more years] [four more years] >> thank you.

for the past few days, all of us have been focused on one of the worst storms in our lifetimes. i just got off the phone with my emergency management team and got an update on what is happening in new jersey and new york and connecticut, west virginia where there is a whole lot of snow. as a nation, we mourn those who were lost. you can only imagine what so many families are going through right now. the message i have sent every time i talk to people back east is we stand with the people of new york and new jersey and connecticut every step of the way. [applause] there is a lot of work that still remains to be done. we've also been inspired these last few days by the heroes running into buildings and wading through water and

neighbors helping neighbors cope with tragedy, the leaders of different parties working together to fix what is broken. [applause] it is a spirit that says no matter how bad the storm is, no matter how tough times are, we are all in this together. [applause] we rise or fall as one nation and one people. that spirit is what has guided this country for more than two centuries, the idea that we are in this together. [applause] it has carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last 200 + years but also the last four years. in 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression and today, our businesses created nearly 5.5 million new jobs and this morning we learned that companies hired more workers in october than at any time in the last eight months.

[applause] the american auto industry is back on top. [applause] home values and housing construction is on the rise. we are less dependent on foreign oil than any time in the last 20 years. because of the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in iraq is over. the war in afghanistan is ending. al qaeda has been decimated and osama bin laden is dead. we have made real progress. [applause] this guy had a lot of coffee this morning. you are fired up. okay.

[applause] we have made real progress but we are here today because we know we've got more work to do. as long as there is a single american who wants a job and cannot find one, as long as their families working hard but falling behind, as long as there is a child anywhere in this country whose language bars them from opportunity, our fight goes on. we've got more work to do. [applause] our fight goes on because this nation cannot succeed without a thriving middle class. it is because america has always done best when everybody has a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same rules. that is what we believe and that's why you elected me in

2008 and that is why i am running for a second term as president of the united states of america. [applause] >> four more years. four more years! four more years! >> in four days, you have a choice to make -- by the way, i think you may have noticed that everybody is paying a lot of attention to ohio. [applause] and rightfully so. this is a choice not just between two candidates or two parties, it is a choice between two fundamentally different visions of america. it's a choice between going back to the top down policies that crushed our economy or adopting the kind of policies that will make sure we've got a strong and growing middle-class.

[applause] that is the choice. as americans, we honor the dreamers and the risk-takers and entrepreneurs and small- business people. they are the folks who have been the driving force behind our free enterprise system. it has been the greatest engine of prosperity but we also believe in this country that people succeed and start businesses and work well in businesses when they get a decent education, when they get a chance to learn new skills, when we support research in medical breakthroughs or new technology. we think america is stronger when we can count on affordable health care and medicare and social security, where there are rules to protect our kids from toxic dumping and mercury poisoning. we think the market works better when consumers are protected from unscrupulous practices in the credit-card industry or from mortgage

lenders and we believe that no politician in washington should control health care choices that women can make for themselves. [applause] for 8 years, we had a president who shared our beliefs and his name was bill clinton. [applause] his economic plan asked the wealthiest americans to pay a little more so we could reduce our deficit and invest in our future. at the time, the republican congress and a senate candidate by the name of mitt romney said this would hurt the economy and kill jobs. it turns out that his judgment was just as bad back then as it is today. [applause] by the end of president clinton's second term, america created 23 million new jobs and incomes were up and poverty was

down and we had the biggest surplus in our history instead of a deficit. we know the ideas we believe in work. we know their ideas don't work. [applause] for most of the last decade, we tried what they wanted to do, giving big tax cuts to the wealthy that we could not afford, giving insurance companies and oil companies and wall street free rein to do whatever they pleased. you know what we got? falling incomes, record deficits, the poorest job growth in half a century and an economic crisis that we have been cleaning up after for the past four years. [applause] so, we know what we want to do works. we know what they want to do does not work. we know what we want to grow our middle-class and what they want to do squeezes the middle class. we know that our strategy will

make sure we bring our deficit down in a balanced way and their strategy will shoot to the deficit up. we know what the right choice is but let's face it, governor romney is a talented salesman. in this campaign, he has tried as hard as he can to repackage the same policies and offer them up as change. but we know what change looks like. what the governor is offering ain't it. giving more power back to the biggest banks is not change. another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy is not change. refusing to answer questions about the details of your policy until after the election, that's not change. we have seen that before.

ruling out compromise by rubber stamping the tea party agenda in congress is not change. by the way, when you try to change the facts because they are inconvenient for your campaign, that is definitely not change. trying to massage the fed, that is not change. that's just -- we have been seeing this out of governor romney and his friends for the last two weeks right here in ohio. you've got folks who work at the gm plant calling their employers worried and asking if it is true that their jobs are being shipped to china. the reason they are making these calls because governor romney

has been running an ad says so except it is not true. everybody knows it is not true. the car companies themselves have told governor romney to knock it off. gm says creating jobs here should be a source of bipartisan pride. governor romney has been running an ad that says so. except that it's not true. everybody knows it's not true.

it the companies themselves have told them they are cutting jobs. saying "lead detroit go bankrupt." this is not a game. these are people's jobs. these are people's lives. these car companies are putting a lot of effort into making great products but also making sure that everyone in america knows how committed they are to making cars here in america. you do not scare hard-working americans just to scare up some votes. that's not what being president is all about. that's not leadership. when i first made the decision to rescue the automobile industry, i knew it was not popular. one out of eight jobs in ohio are connected to the automobile industry in some way and this was not even popular in ohio,

but i knew it was the right thing to do. betting on america's workers was the right thing to do. betting on american ingenuity was the right thing to do. that bet paid off where gm is investing in their auto plants. it paid off in toledo where chrysler is adding 1000 new jobs on a second shift, not in china but right here in ohio i hope when you talk to your friends and neighbors and they're trying to make up their mind in these last few days, think about that. think about the issue of trust. do you want a president is going to tell you what he believes and what he thinks? or someone was going to change the facts? after four years as president, you know me. you may not agree with every decision i have made, you may be frustrated sometimes with the pace of change, but you know

what i believe in. you know where i stand. you know i tell the truth. you know i will fight for you and your family every single day as long as i know how. you know about. -- you know that. and you know that i know what real change looks like because i have fought for real change. you have helped me every step of the way. after all we have been through together, we cannot give up on a real change now. changes a country where americans of every age of the skills and education needed to get a good job. when i hear folks say hiring more teachers what help this economy grow, they are wrong. if we have a great teachers and classrooms, that's going help our kids a and help our

economy. they tell me the students who cannot afford college should just borrow more from their parents. i was not an option for me. it was not an option for a lot of you. i want to cut tuition in half over the next 10 years. i want to recruit 100,000 math and science teachers or kids do not fall behind the rest of the world. i want to train 2 million americans with the skills businesses are looking for right now. that's what we're fighting for in this election. that's what real changes. change comes when we live up to this country's legacy. we are not just building cars again, we are building better

cars, innovative cars, cars by the next decade ago twice as far on 1 gallon of gas. here in ohio, it's not just cars we're starting to manufacture a gun but long-lasting batteries, wind turbines all across ohioan and the country. -- again but batteries and turbines. we need to keep investing in research. i do not want to subsidize all oil companies when they're making money hand over fist but supporting the energy jobs of tomorrow, the new technology that will help cut our oil imports in half. i did not want to reward those companies for creating those jobs overseas but those were creating jobs in manufacturing right here in the united states of america. that's my plan. that's what real changes. -- that's what real change is. change is turning the page on a

decade of war so we can do nation-building at home. as long as i am commander in chief, we will continue to have the strongest military the nation has ever known but it is time to wind down the award to pay down our debt and rebuild america. we need to build bridges and schools all across the ohio and all across america and especially focus on putting our veterans back to work as they come home. we need to serve them as well as they have served us. no one who fights of this country should have to fight for a job when they come home. that's what is at stake in this election. that is my commitment. change is a future where we reduce our deficit but do it in a balanced, responsible way. i have already signed $1

trillion worth of spending cuts. we also have to ask the wealthiest americans to go back to the rates that they paid when bill clinton was in office. if i'm not paying more, governor romney is not paying more, then the choice is to start cutting out the help for young people trying to go to school. it is to hurt those who are vulnerable and those who depend on the things like medicaid. as long as i'm president, i will never turn it into a voucher just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut. i'm not going to make it more expensive for some young person working hard trying to go to school. i'm not going to make them pay more just so i get a tax break.

i'm not going to cut out a research grant so some outstanding young scientist to good of the next discovery -- who could have the next great discoveries for cancer just so i can have more. that's not change. we know what the future requires. back in 2008, i told some of you that i was not just talking about changing presidents or political parties in washington. i said if we're going to talk about real change, it is changing how politics works. i ran because the voices of the american people have been shot out of our democracy for way too long by lobbyists, special interests, politicians who will do whatever it takes to keep things just the way that they are. over the last four years, the status quo in washington has

held up every step of the way spending millions trying to stop us from requirement -- reforming the health-care system, spending millions to try to keep us from reforming wall street, engineering a strategy by refusing to compromise on ideas that most democrats and republicans in the past have supported. what they're counting on now was that he will be so worn down by all the squabbling, so worn down by all the dysfunction that he was to give up, walk away, and put them back into power. in other words, there bet is on cynicism. my bet is on you. my fight is for your . -- my fight is for you. if the other party wants to be with me in that fight, i will work with them. there were republicans and help us repeal do not ask, do not tell.

when they are about broadening opportunity in the middle class, we can work together, but as long as i'm president i will work with anybody of any party to move this country forward. i will work with anyone, but i'm not just going to cut a deal to kick students of all financial aid or gets rid of funding for planned parenthood or let's insurance companies discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions or eliminates health care for millions of medicaid for poor, elderly, disabled. that is the price of peace, then i will not pay the price. that is not by partisanship. that's not change. that is the same status quo that has hurt the middle class and

all those families trying to get into the middle class for way too long. ohio, i'm not ready to give up on the fight. i'm not ready to give up on the fight to make sure that the middle class is growing. i'm not ready to give up on the fight to make sure that every child has an opportunity. i hope you are not either, ohio. you know, the folks at the very top of this country do not need another champion in washington. they already influence. the people who need a champion of the americans whose letters i relayed at night, the men and women i meet on the campaign trail every day, the laid off workers who was gone back to community college to retrain for the jobs of the future. she needs a chance. a business need and want to

expand after the banks turned him down. he needs a chance. the cooks, the waiters, the cleaning staff at a hotel trying to build their first home and send their kids to college, they need a chance. the autoworkers who have lost their jobs on the shore of the plant would ever reopen and are now back in those plants and have the dignity of pride in doing a great job done. the kids in inner cities in the valleys of ohio and right here in hilliard the dream about being scientists come on to burners, even president. they need a champion in washington. -- scientists, inventories, even the president. it is the dreams of those children that will be are saving grace.

it is the dreams of those children that move us forward. that is what we have to champion. that is why i need you, ohio, to make sure their voices are heard, to make sure your voices are heard. we have gone too far to turn back now. we have gone too far. it's time to keep pushing forward. let's get all of our kids and create new jobs, rebuild our infrastructure, discover new sources of energy, opportunity, help our middle-class. let's make sure that no matter who you are or where you come from, you can make it in america. that's what we're trying to do. ohio, i'm asking for your vote.

if you're willing to work with me again and make some phone calls for me, turn out for me, grab your friends, neighbors, co-workers, we will win ohio. we will win this election. will reaffirm the bonds that brought us together. we will reaffirm the spirit that makes the united states of america the greatest nation on earth. thank you, everybody. god bless you. god bless america. ooh baby here i am signed, sealed, delivered, i'm yours ooh baby

here i am signed, sealed, delivered i'm yours ♪ oh baby, herl i am, signed, sealed, delivered, i'm yours

oh, baby, signed, sealed, delivered, i'm yours. signed, sealed, delivered, i'm yours oh, baby signed, sealed, delivered i'm yours ♪

♪

♪ only in america we dream in red, white and blue only in america where we dream as big as we want to we all get a chance everybody take a hand only in america ♪

♪ only in america we dream in red, white and blue only in america where we dream as big as we want to we all get a chance everybody take a hand only in america

♪ only in america we dream in red, white and blue only in america where we dream as big as we want to we all get a chance everybody take a hand only in america only in america we dream in red, white and blue

only in america where we dream as big as we want to we all get a chance everybody take a hand only in america ♪ ♪ ♪

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[captioning performed by national captioning institute] captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> john wilkes want to assassinate william henry sewa rmp d? >> some scholars think that booth realized in the death of the president and vice president, the secretary of state was tasked with organizing an election. i don't think so. booth wasn't a lawyer, he was an actor. and an actor who played julius caesar backwards and forwards. he viewed himself as brutus doing the right thing for roman viewed lincoln as the tyrant.

he wanted to be show that the co-tyrant was eliminated. >> lincoln's team of rivals with walter stahr on sunday's night. >> several perspectives on the presidential campaign. from "washington journal," this is an hour and 25 minutes. host: we have been highlighting key battle ground states the past week or so as part of the series in the campaign of 2012 and wrap up that series by putting the spotlight on ohio. we are joined by a political reporter with cleveland's "plain dealer." here are the numbers on ohio. 18 crucial electoral votes. september unemployment rate of 7% and it's a state that

president obama won by little more than four points in 2008. but take us beyond the numbers and explain why ohio has been describe as guest: great question. ohio doesn't need any more spotlight. the candidates themselves and their running mates have been in ohio about 80 plus times by the time this weekend is over. that is a lot of activity. and the reason they are here, ohio is that crucial bellwether. and has only been a wrong i think twice in the last 10 or 12 years and predicting a president. we have a great balance of republicans, democrats and independents. about a third of each. in ohio, you do not have to declare a party come your affiliation is determined by which primary votes to cast. and you have some flexibility. also, the geography of ohio lends itself to become a great slice of america. it going to the northeast of

ohio on the shores of lake erie, the south shores of lake erie compared to canada, you will find a lot of the industrial base in places like cleveland. as you move further south, you will find a lot of rural areas, and agriculture is the largest export in the state. if the go to the southeast, you will run into the foothills of the appalachian mountains. people down there that will swing on the economic issues. and the go farther west in the southern part of the state, he will run into cincinnati, very conservative. if you move back up north on the west side, you get towards toledo and begin a mix of both rural and industrial. a lot of auto jobs. one reason why both candidates spend a lot of time there. host: this shows a little what

you are talking about as you talk about the geography and ready votes are located. the solid democratic parts of the state and blue, and solid republican parts and read. about that columbus area. guest: columbus the state capital is where the ohio state is, that has become the key swing area of the state. it is growing. it has younger voters. it is a fluent. it is in an area that the previous bush's had one. but president obama made it flipped and took it by several percentage points. i think you are seeing a lot of attention in going there. this weekend, president obama will be finishing topping off his ohio campaigning in central ohio. in the past tv of cycles, we have seen the democratic candidate come up in northeast ohio and try to make that

pushed. i think he is comfortable with the get out to vote efforts. he ought to go down -- he has to appeal to the swing areas. more independent voters. and you had this educated, affluent group, the base around ohio state university. and that has been critical. in the end, if you show that map, ohio is broken up, we have said it for years into 5 ohios. those five areas, plus some of the border areas, we have about seven media markets. it makes a very expensive to campaign here. in gubernatorial races and some presidential races there will go to west virginia to reach the southern ohio parts. that is where the bigger market is and that has to be part of the mix, too. ohio is five ohios. host: we talked about the issues, the top issues in ohio in this election cycle -- can we talk about the issues?

guest: this is like to been a shock to your viewers, but the auto issue has been huge here. i have never seen where one issue in the campaign can play so well here. obviously, it is the battle of the bailout. who wanted to take it into bankruptcy. who got hurt, who did not. you are seeing the new ones being played on. and you are seeing the big swing, which is on the president's side, i save the auto industry. and the mitt romney has been trying to play the policies of the president and how they have hurt auto and how they will send the jobs to china and elsewhere. you can see how they are targeting some of their campaign stops. this place in the northwest, a very heavily auto-related.

and in dayton. -- in dayton you have delphi. it gets into, do those autoparts makers lose their pension as a result of the auto bailout because other people got protection? this is the kind of thing being battled an ohio. host: the "washington post" puts that in perspective. it notes that there is an auto industry presence in 80 of the 88 counties in ohio. overall, one in eight jobs in the state is tied directly or indirectly to the auto industry. down from one in five a decade ago. we of the auto issue. what else tops the list? guest: is not as big, but it has some importance in the map of ohio. that is the energy issue.

particularly coal. those issues play. and it takes it back into what it described earlier, the foothills of the appalachia. mitt romney has run commercials on their targeting it, trying to portray president obama as someone who will hurt the coal country because of its emphasis and aide to alternative energy, solar and other things. the energy issue has had little bubble here in ohio, perhaps more than some of the other areas because of the coal, we also have the natural gas, for lacking is a big issue as a backdrop and the state. i think people are primed to talk about energy. host: talk to us about the mechanics of voting. early voting allowed in ohio. and the potential for three counts and when that kicks in. guest: ohio has early voting,

and has early voting by two methods. we have this no-fault absentee ballot, you do not need a reason, you cannot aldo and an order -- all the campaigns are sending this to get a vote by mail application. and we have in a person boding which is more controversial. if you are looking for a third issue it has been over the rules. there have been a lot of battles. obama's campaign -- on the grounds that having limited in a person of voting for veterans only leading up to the election was actually creating an unequal playing field. you can do it by mail come in person. both campaigns have spent a lot of time pushing matt.

absentee ballot requests are up. in person balloting, at least in the democratic base, is running a tad behind what president obama had, or had hoped to get in 2008 in terms of ballot requests coming from democrats. that is still a pretty strong turnout. and republicans benefit from that same opportunity. but the in person balloting is really driven by the urban democratic votes. host: we are talking to mark naymik, "cleveland plain dealer" correspondent. the democratic line is -- 202- 585-3880. republicans -- 202-585-3881. and a special line for ohio residents -- 202-585-3883.

mark naymik, take us through, if you could, the conflict over the latest auto ad by the romney campaign. and some of the campaigns they have made about jeep production lines in china. guest: in this has gotten a lot of attention. and the only thing getting attention during the first few days of the sandy coverage. romney was in ohio. he was holding an event that encouraged people to bring aid and food. this ad was running. in it, it suggests that president obama is responsible, and his policies are responsible for jeep sending more jobs to china. china -- the chrysler owners are investing in china to boost the market there. they are not cutting back in

ohio. they are investing more in the toledo area chrysler planned. the romney campaign has been asked about it. and they stand by it. the suggestion is clear that ohio might lose jobs. host: let's play a little bit of the radio ad that talks about this. [video clip] >> barack obama says he saved the auto industry, but for who? ohio or china? gm cut 15,000 american jobs, but they are planning to double the number of cars in china which means 15,000 more jobs for china. chrysler plans to start making jeeps in china.

what happened to the promises made to autoworkers in ohio? this same hard-working men and women who were told the auto bailout would help them. mitt romney would welcome the auto industry. mitt romney, he will stand up for the auto industry in ohio. not china. host: so that is a radio ad that we were talking about. this has been on television ads across all media markets as well. guest: what i have seen in northeast ohio, yes, there is a version of that that runs. it has drawn a strong rebuke

from the owners of chrysler. again, it is taking two unrelated things and trying to argue that the president is responsible for the shipping of jobs to china. there are investments being made in jeep in ohio. i think it is an example of how important the although voter is. -- the auto voter is. there may be some people who peel off who get upset about that china issue. host: running ads directly challenging the mitt romney ad, here is one of those obama ads now. >> when the auto industry faced collapse, mitt romney turned his back. even the detroit news criticized him for his wrongheadedness on the bailout.

now chrysler has refuted romney's lie. jeep is adding jobs in ohio. mitt romney on the ohio jobs, wrong then. dishonest now. host: we are talking to mark naymik, a political reporter with the cleveland "plain dealer." steve is on the democratic line. caller: my call is concerning green energy and is a question for mark. supposedly, germany, 43% of their energy comes from solar energy. i was just wondering why are people so against green energy when it could dramatically change our cause prices on so

much like electricity and everything else. that is my question. guest: thanks for the question. i don't know the numbers in germany. it sounds high to me. green energy is expensive because we do not have the technology right now i think to certainly -- let's talk about wind power. it is very expensive to have the idea of wind power because you can still generate that energy much cheaper using coal. as we invest more and produce more here in ohio or elsewhere in the country, green energy costs will come down. ohio has tried to make itself a leader on the wind turbine, wind energy.

there are programs in ohio that are trying to put stuff on lake erie but it is very expensive to get started. i think that is part of what we are limited on the green energy right now. host: a question on twitter from jim writes -- guest: i'm sure autoworkers will love that but there is a thing called tariffs that make those cars pretty expensive. they look at the ability to serve a market more directly and more cheaply than over in china. you almost have to have the reverse argument. we want to build cars here and china wants to build them their. host: another call on the line. sheila is waiting. caller: hello? well, i'll tell you what. right now, i am so upset with

the way the economy is going. i do not like how obama is not for coal. i do not like obamacare either because i am disabled and my husband is, too. he is 100% disabled as a veteran. i even asked my doctor about obamacare and he said it was going to be very bad for the patients and even for the doctor's. i am from a big military family. this thing on benghazi, it just really hit hard here. i am very upset because if that had been my son because he was in the military also i would be very upset.

i am surprised that some of these families have not even come out more and spoken out about this situation. host: a couple issues there. foreign policy, talk about how it is playing in ohio. guest: first sheet mentioned the issue of jobs and the economy -- she mentioned the issue of jobs and the economy. mitt romney has made a strong case about laying out why we don't have a better economy. why he would lead the country in a direction toward creating more jobs. i think that has been the strength toward his campaign.

when you get into the military, that has been an issue. it was a much bigger issue in 20008. getting into the benghazi issue talking about the attack in libya has not played much in the campaign. it has been more of an issue that the pundits have battled around but you will not hear that on the campaign trail from voters and elsewhere. host: tennessee on the independent line. go ahead. caller: hi. i've been watching this for the last couple days and i wonder -- he is really trying to help the middle class. i have a business in tennessee. i think he is a good president. mitt romney already has

everything. he does not know what it feels to be black or white in the middle class. give obama i chance. host: a small business owner from tennessee. guest: small business is always in the campaigns and it gets laid out pretty simply that democrats raise taxes and hurt small businesses. republicans always argue they will reduce regulation and reduce taxes. they always try to talk about that small business owner that earns $250,000. that gets a lot of play but it takes the back seat to the jobs issue, the auto industry, the

coal issue, and even health care gets battled around. president obama always seems to push that he is 17 or more tax breaks for small businesses. that is still part of the larger issue of jobs. host: a question on the jobs issue. we are waiting for that latest unemployment report to come out. here is a chart of the unemployment rate across the ohio. that is below the national rate of about 7.8%. are people more focused on that

state number or the national number that we will see the latest on this morning? guest: it is the national number. we have a republican governor who has taken credit for some of these job numbers improving which obviously makes it a bit dicey for the republican candidate to come in and argued the president has been so bad for ohio because ohio is doing better than the national average. people still see unemployment high. that larger picture is definitely the focus of the voters, the campaigns, and the commercials. we have a long way to go here. it is not a big factor in this debate. host: we will go to strongsville, ohio, on the republican line. caller: buy and a chaplain in the justice center. -- i am a chaplain in the

justice center. how can we pay our teachers or our defense or anything? i am choosing a man with a planned and that is mitt romney. don't hate me, hear me. vote for mitt romney, get hired. vote for obama, get fired. host: if you had any thoughts on the comments from the viewer in ohio? guest: we had ann romney with our lieutenant governor. strong smell has been a pretty solid republican area -- strongsville has been a pretty solid republican area.

host: let me ask you in the two and a half minutes we have left. what are you going to be watching for on election night in ohio? what returns are you most interested in? guest: we have a couple of swing in counties, bellwethers within the bellwether. lake county is just east of cuyahoga county along the lake. they usually turn in results first and then have often predicted that president. i am going to look there and in central ohio. there is stark county. they are usually a nice bellwether. we are going to see totals all across the state immediately with early voting totals and absentee ballots because those are processed and recorded but are not tallied. it is the push of a button.

we will get a sense of where things are immediately and i think that will probably wherever that is leaning will likely hold as an indicator. i think the race will come down to less than two percentage points in ohio for president obama. host: we have roy from tennessee on the democratic line. caller: yes, i'm from obama because he says he wants to increase education spending. he wants to add more for teachers, do better for teachers. mitt romney keeps saying i am going to cut education and then i am not going to cut.

the bottom line is he is going to cut education programs. he flip-flops' all the time. he also says i want to punish overseas investment to china. is he going to punish himself? he has so many investments over their. guest: definitely the issue of teachers and education have played a motif in ohio which really goes back to 2010 where we had one of those collective bargaining issues that was on the ballot to undo the republican-led legislation which fired up teachers. that was successful and people see that as a potential signal for what may happen in just a few days here in ohio. host: mark naymik, a longtime political reporter with "the plain dealer," thank you for joining us. up next, we will have the chairman of the ohio republican

party, bob bennett. host: ohio republican party chairman bob bennett joins us now as we continue our spotlight on ohio. with four days left before the election, thousands of advertisements, scores of visits, is there anything left to be said at this point? guest: if you look at the two campaigns, they are going to be an ohio for the next three days so i think they have a lot to say yet. we have a very small and decided in the number of voters that have not made up their minds. the big thing is the ground game and getting out to vote. host: talk about the ground game for mitt romney there in ohio. the latest average of polls as obama up by a little over two points out there in ohio. where do you see the race? guest: we are showing mitt

romney up a couple of points. i think it is all within the margin of error so it really comes down to getting out the vote with the individuals. i am very confident with our ground game. going through the 2004 election with president bush and senator kerry, i never thought i would see another race like that in a high of. this one is far exceeding its. the intensive level is greater than even 2004. host: we are talking to the ohio republican party chairman bob bennett. if you have questions for him or about the republican party or just want to learn about the state of ohio, give us a call.

talk about at what point you saw romney start to move out there in ohio. i have a list of polls. there have been about 31 polls in the month of october and only about four show romney ahead. four others showed the race tied. you say mitt romney is ahead in your tracking polls. guest: i think the model most of them are using is the 2008 model and that was an unusual election. host: in terms of sampling? guest: yes. we know the intensity level -- first of all, of voting dropped off substantially in 20008. the president won ohio by 4.16%

of the vote. we think that model -- we do not believe they have matched and that intensity this year. we think it has shifted into the republican camp. if you look at the counties around our major metropolitan areas, this is where we are substantially outperforming. host: i want to ask you -- we have been talking about hurricane sandy and its effects this morning. do you think it will have an impact on ohio at all? guest: it certainly has had an impact in northern ohio. i live in the city of cleveland and was without electricity from monday to just yesterday. there are still 70,000 folks

out. that does not even compared to the problems that new jersey and new york and the eastern sea coast had. i think we've feel pretty lucky. yes, there are some people that are pretty upset because they will not get their electricity back for the first part of the week but in comparison i do not think it will have an impact on the turnout for the election on tuesday. we have been voting in ohio since october 2. we have early voting here. we expect a third to 40% of our votes will be cast before the election day on tuesday. host: where do you stand in terms of republican and democratic turnout in the early voting? guest: in the urban areas, the democrats have been a very good job in turning out their votes. the overall swing is about 14%. the democrats are down a little bit from their level in 2008. we are up a little bit in our

key republican counties. overall we feel good about where we are right now and we will continue to bring home those votes from now until tuesday. host: we have an ohio line open for ohio president this morning. -- ohio residents this morning. caller: good morning. retired military, unemployed for the last three years. i have watched a lot of c-span. the voter i.d. issue. i am surprised that the issue has not been brought up on the voter i.d. law. my view of it is you need an i.d. for everything. opening a bank account, cashing checks. i think the voter i.d. deal covers a lot of programs where

a lot of fraud and abuse comes in there. i was curious as to why it hasn't been addressed. there is a lot of defense that i think the republican campaign might have done it to squash any allegations of voter suppression. guest: i think he is absolutely right. we know from base polling in ohio that well over 75% of voters support voter

identification law in ohio. however we do have identification requirements in ohio. you have to show either a driver's license, put down the last four digits of your social security number, or you have to show a utility bill showing your address. we do have identification requirements in ohio. we do not have voter identification requirements but i think overall the legislature has felt it has not been necessary in ohio. we do have pre-registration in ohio. you have to be a resident for 30

days in ohio in which to register to vote. we think that is fair. we have other requirements in our law that we think need to be addressed. host: let go to pennsylvania on the democratic line. david, go ahead. caller: good morning. i am a union member, a union carpenter over here in pennsylvania. i just wanted to call and ask you what is your opinion on organized labor. all i see is the republicans trying to break all the teachers unions. pennsylvania, ohio, and all over the country. this looks like a referendum on the reagan election when he busted up the air traffic controllers. union members should take note of this. this could be the most

important election of our lifetime. guest: i come from a long family of union members. i have a son-in-law who is a member of a local electrical union in cleveland. i do not think most republicans are anti-union. i think we look for a balance in union representation and we look for unions to be progressive in adapting to the changes that take place whether in technology or anything else. i think the same thing for the teachers' unions. taking advantage of the technology that is available and making sure we have qualified teachers in the classroom, that is the most important thing to the republican party and the constituency. we have good teachers. we also have some bad teachers and it is very difficult under

the tenure requirements, the union contract, to get rid of those bad teachers. i think that is the objection that many voters have to the teachers' unions and some of the contract. i think the system itself needs to be changed. i think that is what republicans are talking about. host: i want to get your thoughts on that ad from the mitt romney campaign that says president obama sold chrysler to italians that are going to build jeeps in china. a lot of push back from the obama campaign. the ad was dismissed by our last guest. i want to get your thoughts. guest: chrysler has admitted

they are going to open a plant in china. they will be manufacturing jeeps. they will be shipping to china. where are we not shipping the cheats out of ohio? i think that is the issue that mitt romney -- gov. romney was attempting to promote it. the fact of the matter is we have a substantial loss of automobile manufacturing jobs in ohio between 2008 and 2011. we have not recovered some of the jobs. some we have recovered. to say that chrysler is not going to be producing jeeps in china is incorrect because they have admitted they will open a plant in china. host: do you think gov. romney

could have done a better job of how he presented that? vice president joe biden called it flagrantly this honest and said they are trying to scare the living devil out of people who have been hurt so badly over the past four years before we came into office. guest: i am not going to get into individual ads on television. if you have lived in ohio, you have been bombarded by ads on both sides of the aisle. it is the one thing the average voter will talk to you about on the street. that is the negativity of so many of the ads. i will not comment on it. i think the washington post made a comment on the ad and said

there was some accuracy in the ad it. host: theresa, you are on with mr. bennett. caller: i am very pleased i have the opportunity to speak things i want to say. i hope with the ground game in ohio that the people are telling the people there to do their own research before they pulled the lever. let them talk to people who go to doctors and things of that nature. they do not go once in a while. they go quite frequently. when a doctor says to you instead of having a nice day, stay healthy. i may not be able to take care of the. that is important to senior

citizens. other things, education, these things are being battered around. people need to really did and find out what the educational programs are about. it is more money and more money. it is all for the unions. if there were better things going on in the school the parents could see instead of being pushed aside because the government wants to take over the children and not let the parents have anything to say. there are other subjects as well with the middle-class. host: i will give you a chance to respond to some of her comments. guest: i think all of the voters should have an opportunity to look behind the ads and did well into the research on the candidates. i think they would come out knowing that this country needs a change in direction. this country needs somebody who

will create the number of jobs necessary. i think mitt romney has that program. if you look at it in depth, you will see his commitment to create 12 million jobs over the next four years is the way this country has to do. take regulation out of the small business community so our small- business men, the real job creators know what will happen over the next four years. these are the things necessary. if you look at what has happened editor ohio with gov. kasich who inherited a rainy day fund with 81 cents in it. he was able to balance the budget, put 400 billion jongleurs again for the rainy day fund and reduce taxes and eliminate the debt tax in ohio. that has been the biggest job creator in ohio. i think these programs do work.

i think the governors are continuing to do it. the federal government has been an impediment through regulations. it has prohibited them from creating the jobs necessary to push our economy and to improve the economy over what it has been over the past four years. >> i want to ask you about some breaking news this morning. we have been talking about the jobs numbers that are coming out today. there are the october numbers. 7.9%, slightly up from 7.8%, the unemployment rate from september. showing 171,000 jobs added in

oct.. this according to the u.s. bureau of labor and statistics. i want to get your quick reaction to those numbers. guest: that is virtually no change. unemployment is staying basically around 8%. if you counted the people who have given up looking for jobs and enter this country, we have over 20 million people unemployed did enter the country right now. those are the people we have to address their needs and concerns and make sure they have jobs over the next four years. a lot of these people are going to be put back to work. if we continue the policies of the last four years, i am afraid we will see the next norm for unemployment in this country will be 8%. the unemployment figures are going to stay around the 20 million figure.

i just think we can do a lot better. i think governor mitt romney has the program to do that. certainly in ohio. we have proven it can be done. host: let's go to judith on the democratic line. caller: hello. i am living in ohio near the canton -- 5 miles from there. i have two sons who have graduated from private colleges. they cannot find jobs in their field. they have not been able to. they graduated in college in 1997 -- i am sorry, 2002. my other son graduated in 2001.

they are unable to find jobs. i have heard they want to raise the retirement age again to 72 or something. i am retired. i am a retired nurse. i personally do not understand why they keep raising the retirement age for elderly people here really need to enjoy their retirement. ok? host: mr. bennett. guest: judith brings up two good points. 50% of graduates right now are unable to find jobs in the field have chosen to study. we think that just borders on criminal after they have made that investment. in many cases, they have had to borrow substantial sums of money

to complete their college education and they expect to find a job when they get out of college and we know the unemployment rate among recent college graduates is now 50%. i have a great deal of sympathy for judith and the fact that she has two sons were both college graduates and are unable to find employment in their chosen field. the second thing that she brings up is many people want to raise the retirement age is because they have insufficient funds and they feel the need to continue to work. research and development in the medical field continues to improve and extend the life expectancy. our current system of social security and so forth will not provide sufficient funds to take care of these people for their extend the life span.

in many cases, they have moved up the retirement age. they choose to continue to work beyond the normal retirement age of 65. i think she brings of two very good point here. i'm very sympathetic to the that that her sons have not been able to find jobs, but i think what we need to do -- [no audio] host: will come back to mr. bennett in a little bit there. we are losing the signal there. i want to give you some more info from the jobs report that has come out. the unemployment rate, 7.9%, and the number of unemployed, 12.3 million, both essentially an unchanged according to the bureau of labor and statistics. among the major worker groups, --

we'll go back to mr. bennett of the ohio republican party. we have been talking about the auto industry in ohio. the question on twitter. guest: first of all, there are two types of bankruptcy. one is where they liquidated and that would be devastating. that is not what governor romney ever participated in advocating all. what governor romney was advocating was that we should have vanished richard bankruptcy and we should have had guarantees by the federal government. that would have even the playing field for everyone including many who had their

pensions wiped out because the government pick-and choose the winners and losers. look at ford. they never had to take any bailout money and they continue to have a great profits and they continue to restructure. if we have followed governor romney's recommendation, we would have a government guarantees and restructuring within the bankruptcy law so that the automobile and a tree would have looked exactly the way it does today. it would have been ill even better shape -- it would have been in even better shape than it is today. no one can advocate that because we will never know. the fact of the matter is the government had a $50 million investment in general motors in stock still today. for the government to ever recover that money, the stock

price is going to have to go up between $55-$60 and that will probably not happen in my lifetime or yours. host: of the republican line from missouri. danny is waiting to talk with bob bennett. go ahead. caller: i have some facts and figures for the american people. people seem to forget what has happened in the past. obama claims the democrats took control in january 22nd, 2009. they took control january 3rd, 2007. it was the first time since 1995 have control of both houses. under the bush economy, the gdp was 4.5% and we had 52 straight months of job growth.

i'm tired of all, claiming that he has inherited such a bad economy from the bush era, blaming everything on the republicans. barney frank was the head of the house financial committee and chris dodd was the head of the senate banking committee. they had their friends in freddie mae and fannie mac. bush went to congress and asked them 17 times to stopping denny and freddie from making these loans because they were financially risky for america. host: i will let you jump in here. guest: fannie mae and freddie mac's meltdown was caused by the housing bubble and that was done a great disservice by the congress in encouraging lending to those individuals who did not have a sufficient down

payment or the wherewithal to guarantee that they would be able to pay back their mortgage loans. that certainly created a housing bubble [no audio] that did start at the end of the bush administration. certainly, we are now four years past the start of the obama administration, and i think we have had sufficient time to address the concerns. the fact of the matter is the economy has not improved to the degree we have averaged 8% over and the entire term of president obama's tenure in office. we'll continue to look for good change that will create those

jobs and get this economy moving again while also addressing the tremendous debt that this country has. $16 trillion in debt increased over $5 trillion under president obama. if we have another four years of obama, the national debt will exceed $20 trillion. this is a horrible thing to give to our children, our grandchildren and great- grandchildren. we just cannot keep going with these tax policies. host: one last call for you on the independent line from michigan. victoria, you are wrong with mr. bennett of the ohio republican party. caller: i wanted to make a clarification for a caller that called in earlier that had a question about the interpretation that republicans are against unions. and not being made clear enough, i feel, to our voters that there is a a giant difference between a private- sector union and a government

tax funded union. in the private sector, the union leaders and the workers are able to negotiate, very appropriate. in the government-funded unions, they take the dues from the workers and they support the elected officials that they are interested in getting into office. and then the union leaders negotiate with those elected officials that are then paid for with tax funded dollars. i do not feel like there is a huge difference that people as lenders -- and people are not understanding this. host: i will give you the last

word in this segment tier on "washington journal." guest: gwen is correct. jfk was opposed to public unions but also eleanor roosevelt was. in a real sense, we are negotiating with ourselves. we have been very successful in ohio in getting the public message across to union members. we consistently receive 40% of the union vote in ohio. i am very proud of that. that is a message that the private sector unions understand it. if the economy is growing and jobs are increasing, their lives are better off. that is why i think we will get a substantial union vote this election because they won the economy to grow again. she is right on private employee unions. they far exceed the benefits and

costs ratio than what is available in the private sector and that is really driving many of the voters right now to make changes in collective bargaining. host: bob bennett, ohio party republican chairman. host: via -- we are joined now

via skype by democratic congressman term? guest: their solid numbers when direction. now, with the election season here, who is going to be able to get this economy going even faster? there is a jobs bill in the congress right now and speaker john boehner will not bring it up for a vote. that would add another one or two million jobs and getting them back to work with roads, infrastructure, teachers, police, and fire. these are solid numbers, but we've got more to do. we have to make sure we have a president that will be able to get the job done for us. host: four days from the election and using the numbers are solid. how do you say they will play out and other key indicators are you watching going into tuesday?

guest: we are seeing a lot of improvements in ohio. one in eight jobs here is directly or indirectly related to the audio industry. we see some key changes in the supply chain for the autumn industry which has had a huge benefit. that is in the short term. the president put a tariff on chinese steel which led to a $1 billion investment in a new steel factory in youngstown, ohio, and it is all due to the president's policies. there are some good feelings about how this is going. we all know we have a long way to go. who was going to move us forward? who is going to make the investment in new energy input -- the new energy economy? we have a lot of universities here in ohio and we can be a huge part of restructuring the new economy, but we have to make sure we do not have a bunch of ideologues in the political

realm. the need to realize investments in basic technology and research can lead to economic development. an optimistic. politically, we have a great care around -- a great groudn game. i have 13-14 obama offices in my district alone. we have a huge weekend ahead of us are getting out the vote. a very mobilized and energized based. bill clinton has been here several times, joe biden, the president, etc. we will get the job done in the next few days. host: we're talking with democratic congressman tim ryan from ohio. if you want to ask him about the race in ohio or budget committee questions, the numbers are on your screen. we still have the line open for ohio residents.

a couple of comments on twitter about the jobs numbers. another comment from james.

it becomes much more difficult for people to be prepared to vote by saying in line for long periods of time. there are many different strategies in which they can operate by themselves or together that can make it much more confusing and difficult.

is it really worth it? what will it mean for me anyway? of course, for students, their issues around student loans and affordable education and what is happening to state colleges and universities, public support for them, both at the state and federal support, a key budget decisions about supporting student education. those are essential for students, as well as the job market when they're graduating from school and what kinds of policies are out there. one of the big problems for women was when there were budget constraints. many public-sector jobs were being contracted and even layoffs with teachers and social workers and others who are largely women losing their jobs.

women were hit in a double whammy way. they lost their jobs in the kinds of services they were providing. this affects students in education directly. >> is the media doing a good job in informing the population about issues related to rights and what is why not? >> as far as i'm concerned, the media could always do more. that is for sure. there is a lot of horse race aspect about this -- who is ahead? is it 1%? 2%?

those are interesting, but for people who want to have the facts to help them decide about how to vote, those horse race stories don't get you very far. and does not help people with what they need to know. take the time to explain what the lilly ledbetter decision is really about or what affordable care act really does in making -- for example, if you have to buy insurance on the individual market as a woman right now, if you go as an individual to buy insurance, i am proud to say that we issued a report that demonstrated these insurance companies charge women more than men for the same insurance excluding maternity coverage. in the affordable care act, when it comes fully into affect, we will have eliminated that practice. many people have no idea that the practice is still rampant in the individual market. there are plans and to give people money to buy insurance themselves on that market or maternity coverage is virtually not available to buy in any state for many women.

if you can get insurance, you have to pay more as a woman. a woman has to pay as much as 85% more than men at the same age.

a 40-year-old woman to is a nonsmoker is charge more than a man who is the same age and is a smoker. some companies charge of 20% more or 30% more or 85% more. that is not actuarially based. that is another thing the affordable health care act would bring to an end. how many people know about it?

>> where can people get this kind of information? >> national women's law center is a great resource. we have our web site nwlc.org. we have our report on conditions and the affordable health care act and how women before the affordable health care act really lost out on the ability to get insurance coverage at all, let alone how to pay for it and not have maternity coverage, etc. we have a lot on the budget. we reported on child-care services. 27 states. we have been getting worse. at a time when women desperately have to go worked, the cruelty and drying up these child-care resources to those families, let alone what it is doing to the children is mind-boggling if we are thinking of investing in the future and building a stronger country.

>> thank you so much for this presentation. >> thank you. >> i would like to mention that there have been articles about how you should use the paper ballot because of voting machines can be changed.

there were some changes were the paper ballots are not turned in. we should get paper ballots and you should remember that even though there is a voting up until the end -- the hours that you go have shortened. there are people who do not have any way to get there. >> people need to be alert. they need to understand. it might take some effort to go, but the most important thing is to exercise this pressure is right we have in this country. for that, i commend all of you for your efforts and engagement. that is what we need to see replicated all over the country, regardless of where people decide to come out at the end of the day.

we have a one-person, one-vote system that we have been proud of. it is our duty and responsibility to take advantage of that opportunity. as hard as the hurdles might be in the road, regardless, there are ways of overcoming them. this is an important election to do it. thank you again. [applause] >> c-span2 asked reporters what they will be looking for on election night. here is what one of them had to say. >> much of this comes down to two pockets of the state -- clark county, which has 70% of

the population, and the northern part of the state will have another 20% of around reno and carson city. the republicans are going to make a huge pitch to turn people out in the greuel counties. if they can have the highest participation there, those are boy -- votes uncounted that counts. especially for the congressional district race. i will be looking at different sorts of groups. this has been an election where people are talking to blocs of voters. whether it is women or seniors are latinos are veterans. i will be looking to see from the exit polling and the conversation leading into it hal is this actually affecting people to go to the polls instead of even how they vote. how is the medicare

conversation that is everywhere affecting seniors? they are another block. in nevada, it is the one group that did not go for nevada in 2008. it is the biggest message on the democratic scale. i will try to see in the last week or so how and home -- whom these talking points are selling at home with. >> be sure to visit the newly revised these bank campaign 2012 website. has the latest events from the president attended its. in our social media section, you can see what the candidates and reporters are saying about the presidential rates -- face at --

race at c-span.org/campaign2012. >> they present that information and let you come to your own conclusions. i frequently to an end to the live sessions of the house and senate. there is important legislation that comes up affect us. >> he watches c-span. c-span, created by america's cable companies in 1979. brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> now president obama speech at the campaign rally in hilliard, ohio, one of several stops he made in the state. over the weekend, the president will visit an abrupt battleground states including

iowa, new hampshire, florida, and colorado. this is 40 minutes. [applause] [applause] >> hello, ohio. o-h. o-h. it's good to be back. can everybody give judy a big round of applause? judy is an example of the incredible volunteers involved in this campaign each and every day, knocking on doors and making phone calls. i love all of you and am grateful to all of you for all your great work. [applause] give it up for your former governor and our great friend ted strickland. [applause] poor ted has got a cold but he is backstage and he is still out campaigning.

i love you back. [applause] you know - [applause] i can tell it as a rowdy crowd. [applause] all right, all right, all right. [four more years] [four more years] >> thank you. for the past few days, all of us have been focused on one of the worst storms in our lifetimes.

i just got off the phone with my emergency management team and got an update on what is happening in new jersey and new york and connecticut, west virginia where there is a whole lot of snow. as a nation, we mourn those who were lost. you can only imagine what so many families are going through right now. the message i have sent every time i talk to people back east is we stand with the people of new york and new jersey and connecticut every step of the way. [applause] there is a lot of work that still remains to be done. we've also been inspired these last few days by the heroes running into buildings and wading through water and neighbors helping neighbors cope with tragedy, the leaders of different parties working together to fix what is broken. [applause]

it is a spirit that says no matter how bad the storm is, no matter how tough times are, we are all in this together. [applause] we rise or fall as one nation and one people. that spirit is what has guided this country for more than two centuries, the idea that we are in this together. [applause] it has carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last 200 + years but also the last four years. in 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression and today, our businesses created nearly 5.5 million new jobs and this morning we learned that companies hired more workers in october than at any time in the last eight months. [applause]

the american auto industry is back on top. [applause] home values and housing construction is on the rise. we are less dependent on foreign oil than any time in the last 20 years. because of the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in iraq is over. the war in afghanistan is ending. al qaeda has been decimated and osama bin laden is dead. we have made real progress. [applause] this guy had a lot of coffee this morning. you are fired up. okay. [applause]

we have made real progress but we are here today because we know we've got more work to do. as long as there is a single american who wants a job and cannot find one, as long as their families working hard but falling behind, as long as there is a child anywhere in this country whose language bars them from opportunity, our fight goes on. we've got more work to do. [applause] our fight goes on because this nation cannot succeed without a thriving middle class. it is because america has always done best when everybody has a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same rules. that is what we believe and that's why you elected me in 2008 and that is why i am running for a second term as president of the united states of america. [applause]

[four more years] in four days, you have a choice to make -- by the way, i think you may have noticed that everybody is paying a lot of attention to ohio. [applause] and rightfully so. this is a choice not just between two candidates or two parties, it is a choice between two fundamentally different visions of america. it's a choice between going back to the top down policies that crushed our economy or adopting the kind of policies that will make sure we've got a strong and growing middle-class. [applause]

that is the choice. as americans, we honor the dreamers and the risk-takers and entrepreneurs and small-business people. they are the folks who have been the driving force behind our free enterprise system. it has been the greatest engine of prosperity but we also believe in this country that people succeed and start businesses and work well in businesses when they get a decent education, when they get a chance to learn new skills, when we support research in medical breakthroughs or new technology. we think america is stronger when we can count on affordable health care and medicare and social security, where there are rules to protect our kids from toxic dumping and mercury poisoning. we think the market works better when consumers are protected from unscrupulous practices in the credit-card industry or from mortgage lenders and we believe that no politician in washington should control health care choices that women can make for themselves. [applause]

for 8 years, we had a president who shared our beliefs and his name was bill clinton. [applause] his economic plan asked the wealthiest americans to pay a little more so we could reduce our deficit and invest in our future. at the time, the republican congress and a senate candidate by the name of mitt romney said this would hurt the economy and kill jobs. it turns out that his judgment was just as bad back then as it is today. [applause] by the end of president clinton's second term, america created 23 million new jobs and incomes were up and poverty was down and we had the biggest surplus in our history instead of a deficit.

we know the ideas we believe in work. we know their ideas don't work. [applause] for most of the last decade, we tried what they wanted to do, giving big tax cuts to the wealthy that we could not afford, giving insurance companies and oil companies and wall street free rein to do whatever they pleased. you know what we got? falling incomes, record deficits, the poorest job growth in half a century and an economic crisis that we have been cleaning up after for the past four years. [applause] so, we know what we want to do works. we know what they want to do does not work. we know what we want to grow our middle-class and what they want to do squeezes the middle class. we know that our strategy will make sure we bring our deficit down in a balanced way and their strategy will shoot to the

deficit up. we know what the right choice is but let's face it, governor romney is a talented salesman. in this campaign, he has tried as hard as he can to repackage the same policies and offer them up as change. but we know what change looks like. what the governor is offering ain't it. giving more power back to the biggest banks is not change. another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy is not change. refusing to answer questions about the details of your policy until after the election, that's not change. we have seen that before. we have seen that before. [applause] ruling out compromise by rubber stamping the tea party agenda in congress is not change.

by the way, when you try to change the facts because they are inconvenient for your campaign, that is definitely not change. [applause] trying to massage the fed, that is not change. that's just -- [applause] we have been seeing this out of governor romney and his friends for the last two weeks right here in ohio. you've got folks who work at the gm plant calling their employers worried and asking if it is true that their jobs are being shipped to china. the reason they are making these calls because governor romney has been running an ad says so except it is not true. [applause]

everybody knows it is not true. the car companies themselves have told governor romney to knock it off. gm says creating jobs here should be a source of bipartisan pride. governor romney has been running an ad that says so. except that it's not true. everybody knows it's not true. it the companies themselves have told them they are cutting jobs. creating jobs in america should be a point of partisan pride in what -- and i could not agree more. romney has had a tough time in ohio because he was against saving the automobile industry. saying "lead detroit go bankrupt." this is not a game. these are people's jobs. these are people's lives. these car companies are putting

a lot of effort into making great products but also making sure that everyone in america knows how committed they are to making cars here in america. you do not scare hard-working americans just to scare up some votes. that's not what being president is all about. that's not leadership. when i first made the decision to rescue the automobile industry, i knew it was not popular. one out of eight jobs in ohio are connected to the automobile industry in some way and this was not even popular in ohio, but i knew it was the right thing to do. betting on america's workers was the right thing to do. betting on american ingenuity was the right thing to do. that bet paid off where gm is investing in their auto plants. it paid off in toledo where

chrysler is adding 1000 new jobs on a second shift, not in china but right here in ohio i hope when you talk to your friends and neighbors and they're trying to make up their mind in these last few days, think about that. think about the issue of trust. do you want a president is going to tell you what he believes and what he thinks? or someone was going to change the facts? after four years as president, you know me. you may not agree with every decision i have made, you may be frustrated sometimes with the pace of change, but you know what i believe in. you know where i stand. you know i tell the truth.

you know i will fight for you and your family every single day as long as i know how. you know about. [applause] -- you know that. [applause] and you know that i know what real change looks like because i have fought for real change. you have helped me every step of the way. after all we have been through together, we cannot give up on a real change now. changes a country where americans of every age of the skills and education needed to get a good job. when i hear folks say hiring more teachers what help this economy grow, they are wrong. if we have a great teachers and classrooms, that's going help our kids a and help our economy. [applause]

they tell me the students who cannot afford college should just borrow more from their parents. i was not an option for me. it was not an option for a lot of you. i want to cut tuition in half over the next 10 years. i want to recruit 100,000 math and science teachers or kids do not fall behind the rest of the world. i want to train 2 million americans with the skills businesses are looking for right now. that's what we're fighting for in this election. that's what real changes. change comes when we live up to this country's legacy. we are not just building cars again, we are building better cars, innovative cars, cars by the next decade ago twice as far on 1 gallon of gas.